Wily Ga Taosenai
by GrimMoody
Summary: The last story of my between Classic and X series trilogy.  So the robot apocalypse happened. And then...
1. Fated

Soundtrack: http://www. youtube ....... /watch?v=cj2gIGk5zco

Oh yeah, don't own Mega Man. But you weren't thinking that, were you?

-----

The yellow scarf floated in the smoky breeze, anchored by the knot that kept it bound to the neck of its robot owner. Like a little flag of defiance it waved, the last bright thing remaining in the torn, deserted landscape. Chunks of road were strewn about, and burnt stone and rubble were everywhere. The wind bore the scent of flame, and though this couldn't bother the lonely robot, the ash that still filled the air fit into every crevice of the machine and made the view vague and hazy.

The robot paid no heed, and instead stepped over the crumbling, jagged remains of what was once Laramie Street. Though in its time the block had been crowded with people and tall buildings, the people were now long gone and all that remained of the buildings were ruin, most of it scorched. The robot remembered with sad irony that the city was more peaceful now than it had ever been.

These thoughts had to be shaken aside. It was a time of waiting. Waiting for him. He would be coming soon, certainly. The red-armored bot had made no attempt to signal him yet, but the need was doubtful. This was the apocalypse, and any robot that showed signs of intelligence would be found soon enough. Wait any amount of time, and the destroyer would make his appearance. It hardly felt right to rush things. When looking one's own death in the face, one might not be so eager for it to arrive.

A spurt of fire shot up, and the robot immediately focused in on its source....only to realize that it was the fire that had already been burning far to the left. It had reached a half smashed car, and had finally eaten its way into the gas tank. The fighter considered putting it out, but now that much of Monstropolis was a barren desert, it would burn itself out eventually. And the hazard might be a help when the killer arrived.

Shifting in the dirt, the robot had to admit some anxiety. This battle was going to be worse than any of the ones before it, and there had been many. But fear was a deadly path for the mind to tread. It was better to be aware, and to concentrate on watching the surroundings while going over strategy, numbing all inward emotion. But for a moment, one last desperate thought found its way into the robot's conciousness.

_I can't believe this is happening....when did it come to this...?_

The robot's lip quivered, and a sob escaped. But immediately the robot straightened, refusing to succumb to the grief. This was no time for tears.

_Steady now, Roll. _ she told herself. _They need you to be strong now._

Roll looked up to the barren, grey sky, lifting her buster hand nobly over her chest, as if she was taking a vow.

"For Rock....for everlasting peace....."

She said this out loud, and her words were lost in the ashen wind, to be heard by no one. The fire kept burning, the yellow scarf kept waving, and Roll was still standing there, still waiting for him. Her destroyer.

Simulating a deep breath, she sent out a transmission.

_" ---- I'm here. Come and get me. ---- "_

And she waited. It wouldn't be long.

\\\\\\\\\\\

Okay, since I don't like having to go back and read prequels just to understand a story, here's the bare minimum of what you need to know for the characters in case you have not read the two previous stories.

- Bass

After having his life saved by Mega Man, Bass has very reluctantly given up trying to destroy him. Due to Dr. Light's influence, he's decided to try out being a good guy, though he aims to be more popular and successful than Mega Man still. Last we heard, he was traveling the world with Crystal Bot, his technician, after believing that he has successfully destroyed Zero.

- Crystal Bot

Crystal Bot is the daughter of Crystal Man, created in secret with parts from Roll, Auto, and Mega Man X. Crystal Man was attempting to liberate and improve the Mega Man 5 robots (of whom he was the leader), but ended up being killed. Crystal Bot, having left Wily with Bass and Team 5, is now Bass' technician, and she is always thinking of ways to improve Bass.

- Team 5

Wave Man, Napalm Man, Stone Man, Gyro Man, Star Man, Gravity Man, and Charge Man are now at Star Man's space station, working for science and space exploration.

- Dr. Light

Having aged a good many years, Dr. Light has died peacefully and mostly without pain. He now resides in a computer, where he himself tests Mega Man X. He is now effectively cut off from the rest of the world.

- Proto Man

Convinced by Bass, Mega Man, and Roll, Proto Man finally went to see his creator one last time, and was able to say goodbye. Seeing how sad Dr. Light's death made Roll, he decided that he would undergo the repair to have his power core fixed. He is now wandering mysteriously, trying to decide what to do with himself now that he is going to live.

- Mega Man

Improved with his optional super armor that gives him strength (and cuts his speed), Mega Man was able to defeat the Dr. Cain's robots and their master, but for some reason he feels that the threat isn't over, and wishes Dr. Light was still alive to guide him.

- Dr. Nikola Cain

A villain whose works used to include only theft, Cain decided to build robots in order to outdo Dr. Wily and prove once and for all that robots have too great a place in human society. His scheme ultimately failed, and he was seriously injured. However, during his stay in the hospital, Dr. Wily visited, and the implications of that visit are unknown. Nothing has been heard from him since, but he has escaped police custody.

- Dr. Wily

After visiting Dr. Cain, Wily used Team 2 and the Cain-bots to attempt to destroy Mega Man, Proto Man, and Bass. This failed. He also attempted to get Crystal Bot to return to him and complete Zero, but this also failed. However, Wily seemed undaunted by both of these failures, and commented to Cut Man that the battle itself didn't matter. He died shortly after the battle's conclusion from heart failure, and is now buried in the robot museum. Any attempt to extend his consciousness into the future as Dr. Light did is unknown.

- Roll

Having played only a bit role in her brother's past adventures and stayed behind to take care of their creator, Roll now feels lost, and is trying to find where she fits in society now, wondering if she ever really will. Fate, however, has its plans for her.

\\\\\\\

=====Roll

**"Good luck, Megaman!"**

Good point: Helpful

Bad point: Cowardice

Like: Cooking

Dislike: Cockroaches

Japanese CD data:

Bad point: Cowardice

Like: Cleaning, cooking

Dislike: Cockroaches

Yeah....all stereotypes there. One of my problems with the Mega Man fansection is that nobody really seems to do anything with robot Roll. I mean, netnavi Roll gets plenty to do (most admittedly involving romance), but robot Roll is often an afterthought in a lot of fics. I dunno...she should be taken a bit more seriously as a character, but I suppose Capcom gave us little to work with.

In any case, like most people I see Roll as a more normal person. The robot masters might have crazy personalities, but not her. She's a normal girl who cares about normal things, but in the end isn't really into fancy or overdone lifestyles. All she really wants is to be with the ones she loves and have a happy life. She doesn't care for adventure or too much excitement. She doesn't like fighting, and can't understand why the bad guys would do bad things. It makes no sense to her, as she hates making others suffer.

- I would like to point out that I have been doing a bad thing in my stories. I was putting quotes around the thoughts, and you're not supposed to do that if you want to get published. So yeah, word of advice to anyone out there wanting to get published.

- Okay, if you're wondering about the link at the top of the page, that's my new gimmick for this story: melancholy tracks! For each chapter I'll post a link to a song that I think fits, mostly because I just want to share the things that I listen to. If you want, you can post some links (only to youtube, please) of music you like in the reviews. I'm not sure if I'll keep doing character profiles...eh, I probably will. So this song is "Doomsday", a song for the character Rose in Doctor Who. Hopefully this song will give you some sense of what I'm about to do in this story. Consider it a prologue. :D

- The title of this song comes from Air Man Ga Taosenai, or "Air Man will not die", a really silly song that's a lot of fun. There's even an english version of it. Here's a link to the original Japanese, and I'm sure that the link to "I can't defeat Air Man" will be on the side somewhere: www. youtube .com /watch?v=hUVdA9ABzpg


	2. The First Fallen

www. youtube. com/ watch?v=wlDWXv-cIh8&feature=related

It had been five years since the death of Dr. Light.

Roll, equipped with her spider-bot assistant Dub, flew in helicopter mode over the Californian landscape. It had been Bass' idea for Crystal Bot to build her lab in the far north part of the large state, but Roll figured that Crystal would have tried to hide her lab in any case. Crystal, though social in most cases, was very private when it came to her scientific progress. The housekeeper-bot knew how this was. She sent a narrow beam, heavily encoded signal to her destination.

_" - Sona-chan, it's Roll, and I'm almost there! - "_

There was no response, and Roll frowned. Did it always take her friend this long to confirm her entry? This pondering distracted Roll for a moment, and she barely noticed in time when a voice from behind her started yelling.

"Get out of the way!"

Dub quickly pulled Roll away from the robot coming in at missile speed behind her. It was Bass; or rather she assumed that the purple blur passing her by was Bass merged with his trusty wolf. But unfortunately, this change in trajectory sent Roll right in the path of another blur, this one more brown than any other color. With two screams, Roll and Crystal Bot collided and fell to the ground.

"Roll-chan, are you okay?" Crystal Bot asked, giggling.

When Crystal stood up, Roll could see two little bird-like wings on her back. Also, the parts of her armor and dress that were normally green had changed into a lighter brown. But only one moment later, the wings seperated into several pieces, reforming themselves into twenty-five pipies and letting the tech-bot go back to her normal colors.

Dub, though a bit shaky, pulled Roll back to her feet. "I'm fine." the girl-bot in red replied. "Wow, those wings were really cute!"

"I know, aren't they?"

Bass set down nearby, his landing perfect as he de-merged from Treble. He grinned. "Looks like I win the race."

"No fair!" Crystal Bot complained. "You used Roll as an obstacle!"

"I didn't throw her in your way. It's her own fault." Ignoring Roll's scowls, Bass went on. "Hey, how can you fly with those small wings? You shouldn't be able to generate enough lift like that."

Crystal smiled proudly at the 25 birds that surrounded her. "It wasn't about lift and thrust, Forte-kun. Bruce and the Clefs were specially engineered to use some of Gravity Man's anti-gravity generators. I was testing in our race to see if that would use less fuel and help you be more efficient."

"And?"

She shrugged. "It did, but it's not really worth the cut in speed and maneuverability."

"In other news," Roll interrupted. "Hi! I'm here!"

"Eeeee!" Crystal Bot immediately threw her arms around her friend. "Roll-chan's here! I haven't seen you since Kalinka's wedding! You haven't been to the lab before, have you?"

"I have." Roll answered. "But that was when you guys were in England and I was doing some work for Team 5. They didn't want you to come back to a messy lab."

"Yeah, people say it's mine, but it really belongs to my team." Crystal Bot nodded as she pulled a round, metal object from her pocket. "But okay, let's go in, shall we?"

Roll had been right in the middle of a blink when Crystal had been pressing buttons, so when they appeared right in the middle of a room in what seemed like an instant, she almost jumped out of her metallic skin. They had teleported into a large, mostly round room, one designed to record the serial numbers of any robot that entered and potentially prevent them from entering the rest of the lab. The translucent ceiling not only served as a door to allow aircraft to land inside, but also had a greenhouse-like result on the potted trees that grew in the entryways to the four different sections of the lab.

"You really have an open, liveable look to this place, Sona-chan."

Crystal Bot giggled. "Oh yes. It's designed to be like nature because nature is pretty. I'm even going to get a couple of guinea pigs as pets. I will name them Mungo and Jerry! Well, if I don't stop traveling, that is."

"So you're going to do experiments on them?"

The tech-bot was instantly horrified. "No! Why would I do that to a poor guinea pig? I might have been a bad guy, Roll, but I never was a meanie. Honestly, perform experiments on a guinea pig? Who would do that?"

Roll decided against clarifying the issue. She watched as the mechanical birds Crystal employed flew away, all in different directions. Bruce, however, still stayed on his mistress' shoulder. Because Crystal Bot had rarely ever referred to her lead pipi as Clef (though that was technically his alternate name), she had decided to name the other pipies "Clef 1", "Clef 2" and so on.

"Alright, you." Here the tech-bot referred to Bass. "Go on to the lab and get that armor off. Me and Roll will get your new armor together in a minute."

"Oh, so I'm helping, am I?" Roll teased.

"Yes, please!" Crystal Bot went on. "You're drafted! Today I'm giving Forte-kun a complete internal reconstruction to celebrate the end of his probation!"

"Thank God it's over with." Bass muttered as they all went to the main laboratory past the north door. "I'm sick of all that legal crap I have to put up with to get from one country to another."

"What are you going to do now?" Roll asked him.

"Whatever I want." he replied simply. "Dr. Imahara hired me for some security work for an exclusive robotics convention in Okinawa, but after that I'm going to check out those countries I was restricted from earlier."

"Dr. Light would be really proud of you, Bass." Roll said, her voice dropping a level. "You're really getting along in society now."

"Yeah...I guess..."

The mention of Dr. Light tempered Bass' mood, and for a moment he seemed almost sad. But he went ahead of the girl-bots, and by the time he sat down in the chair of one of Crystal Bot's automated machines, his mood had returned to its usual confident range. Treble had his own customized automated machine, but he first went over to the table next to Bass' so that his armor could be removed as well.

Roll didn't like this part of the lab as much. It had too many tools hanging from the walls, and that somehow went against Roll's design ethic. But it wasn't her lab, so she let it pass.

"Alright, grab me some wrenches, Roll-chan! _Yolshimhi hapshida!_"

Bass couldn't help rolling his eyes, but refrained from commentary as Roll handed Crystal Bot the appropriate tools for taking off Bass' chestplate.

"So, Roll-chan, what are you doing now?" Crystal Bot asked. "Last I heard you were working in a nursing home."

The Light-bot cringed, wondering why Crystal had to mention that. She hadn't done that much with herself in the past five years, and she was ashamed to admit it. "Oh, well, I quit that job recently, right before I called you. It didn't seem like a good fit somehow."

"Oh, I understand that!" Crystal Bot said, though a sour Roll doubted that. "It's so scary working for people who are gonna die soon! I like my job a lot better!"

"That's horrible to say. It's a really important job, and it really helps people."

"So why'd you quit then?"

Roll wasn't certain that she knew the answer to that. "Well...I don't know...I guess it's just not what I'm looking for right now. This whole freedom thing can be confusing."

"It's not as bad as being owned." Bass snorted as Crystal Bot finally pulled off his chest armor and started working on his arms. "We technically still belong to Cossack."

"So what's Rock doing now?" Crystal Bot curiously asked. "Same old, same old?"

"Pretty much." Roll answered. "He's been trying out all these new things lately, though. Like tennis and art collecting...he even started reading this philosophy book that just came out. I wouldn't be surprised if you knew about it, it's a bestseller."

For some reason, Crystal Bot began to giggle. "Oh, what's it called?"

"Robotics: Futile Questions for the Mechanical Future. I tried to read it once, and it's sort of depressing. But the author, Ben Foster, really does sound smart. Maybe if I get to the end it will turn out happier, but what I was reading really questioned Dr. Light's motives for making robots in the first place."

"Oh...so the author sounds really smart, huh?" Crystal Bot giggled even louder. "That's because he's Forte-kun!"

"Darn it, Sonata, you weren't supposed to tell anyone!" Bass groaned.

"Relax, it's just Roll. Besides, you sold a lot of copies! You should be really proud of yourself. The publisher was saying that it was some of the most intruiging stuff he'd ever seen."

"You wrote it?" Roll was astounded. "But you...you really sounded human...and as if you didn't agree with Dr. Light's work."

"One, I was trying to sound human, and two, I wasn't disagreeing with Light, I was questioning him. You know, for philosophy or whatever. And Dr. Light always said that people should examine their own motives." Bass was getting tired of the conversation, and he glowered at Crystal Bot. "See, this is why I didn't want you spreading anything around. I don't want to have to put up with all this."

"Oh hush. Roll won't tell anyone. Hehe, I made up his pen name, Roll-chan! And I made up a human name for you too. You're Lara Hikari, and Rock is Lan."

"Hikari?" Roll tried it out. "Japanese for 'light'? I love it!"

Putting Bass' arm plating on the table next to Treble, Crystal Bot started to remove his buster components, along with the energy crystals that enabled his double busters. "Honestly Forte, I'm surprised you don't have mice in here or something. You're all dirty and nasty on the inside."

"That's what happens to fighter-bots, Sonata. Or did you want me to leave you in the rubble when that building collapsed in Seoul?"

"Oh, hehe, I just wanted to see the implosion when they knocked down that old building."

"And there was the time Asan's silicon valley got attacked by Nitro Man and Turbo Man. I think protecting their economy is a little more important than staying clean."

"You set them on fire when I was at Seoraksan!" Crystal Bot squealed. "Tell me that story again."

"You heard it already."

"Roll didn't! Tell it again!"

While the story was supposedly for Roll's sake, she barely listened. She wasn't very interested in fights, but that wasn't the main reason. Crystal Bot seemed completely happy just listening to Bass describe his exploits, though she obviously had to have heard them plenty of times. She even laughed along at her favorite parts, and this only encouraged Bass to tell more, livening up the story with (exaggerated) details. Roll watched them happily conversing and held back a sigh. Treble added parts to the story, but Roll didn't understand his bark code, making her feel even more alien. As friendly as they were being (or perhaps only tolerant in Bass' case), she still felt lonely, smiling only out of manners as she handed the appropriate tools to Crystal Bot.

Several pipies brought in replacement parts for Bass' internal components, and Dub automatically went to help bring them to the automated machine.

"Okay, Forte-kun!" Crystal Bot said. "You've got to go get cleaned up once the rest of your armor is off, but it's going to take a while for your new armor to get done."

"Are you kidding?" Bass started. "You've been working on them for more than a month!"

Rolling her eyes, Crystal Bot addressed Roll. "See how he is, Roll-chan? I'm over here putting as much work into his armor as katana-makers would in Japan _and _all new internal supports made in micro-gravity, he then he whines about how long it takes!" Sticking her tongue out, she continued, this time to Bass. "They'll be done and installed on you by evening tomorrow. Besides, you're going to be pretty busy with getting basically everything else replaced. Roll-chan, will you get Mr. Grumpy-Butt over here some books from the library?"

Roll giggled. "Okay. What haven't you read already, Bass?"

"Anything in the stack next to my chair."

The red girl-bot left as Crystal started removing the last piece of her boss' armor. As she went back to the entryway and chose the western door. That wing was only meant for Bass' library, and as she entered in, it was obvious that the place had filled up with even more books than before. Two new bookcases had been installed already, and there was room for at least four more in the early hall. Roll liked the main part of the library the best. It was huge, and there were two stories worth of shelves jam packed with books of all different kinds.

Most of the western wall wasn't even a wall, but a vast bright window that let in sunlight, especially now that it was drawing near evening and the sun was just beginning to set. Outside was nothing but trees and mountains. Though the window looked like glass, it wasn't, but some sort of plastic polymer that acted like a big two-way mirror, but from the outside no one could tell that it wasn't a wall.

Roll went up to the window happily, but frowned a bit as she reached the platform that was before it. The only thing on there besides a stack of books that stacked above Roll's head, was a plush red chair, obviously Bass'. That platform could easily have held several more chairs, but the girl-bot had to remember why the room was so large: it had to fit Bass' ego.

And that was the reason she didn't like the room. The bigness of it all, especially since there was no one else, made Roll feel even more lonely than before. She almost spitefully pulled out a few of the more interesting-looking titles, giving a stubborn "hmph" as her emotion caught up with her. The grand design of the lab made Roll jealous. Not of the building itself, but of Bass and Crystal Bot. They had lives, places in society and work they could call their own. And they weren't alone.

But once the bitterness was released, it wouldn't stop there. Roll felt just the same way about her brother, ashamed as she was to admit it, even to only herself. Mega Man was always off saving the world, earning another reward, and Auto's job went right along with that. But Roll...in the five years that had passed since Dr. Light had died, what had she done with herself, other than go from job to job without any real sense of belonging? What did life hold for her, and why couldn't she find it? Without Dr. Light...what could she possibly do?

"Dr. Light would've loved this place..." Roll said to echoing room, mumbling miserably. "I wish he could have stayed here. Though I don't know what I would have to do to get him to move here. Vacationing in Florida was pretty hard to convince him to do..."

A tweet sounded from one of the bookcases, and a pipi flew over. It landed on her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek, tweeting again.

"Aw...you're so cute. Which Clef are you?" Roll smiled and stroked the bird down its wing and noticing the number on its talon. "Clef 13? Could you go get Dub for me? I have a feeling that I'm going to need to get more books than I can carry all at once for Bass."

It sang a note before flittering off to do what it was told. The housekeeper-bot sighed, slowly lugging her stack of books in the same direction. She would have to be sad later. For now she could at least talk to Crystal Bot, and maybe the tech-bot would have some idea of what she should do with herself. This thought made Roll feel a little better. If nothing else, she would be spending a little time with her good friend Sona-chan.

As she went back to the northern branch of the lab building, a beeping sounded to her right. It was a communications panel, and a green flashing was going off next to the wide communications monitor. Shuffling the books to her left arm, Roll reached for the button. Clef 13 reached it first and pecked at it with his beak. Light flashed across the screen, and an image of Wave Man appeared.

"Ah, Roll, I didn't expect to see you there." The marine robot mentioned, though his face was too covered by his helmet plating for him to appear very surprised. "Please direct Crystal Bot to the comm. It is very important that I speak with her."

"Right!"

Roll scurried over to the main part of the lab and called out. "Hey, Sona-chan! Wave Man is a on the line, waiting for you!"

"Okay! I get it over here!" Crystal Bot's voice sounded out from somewhere behind various monitors and machines.

"Bass?" Roll called out again. "I've got some books for you! Dub's bringing you some more!"

_" - Thanks. - "_

The housekeeper-bot almost jumped. Bass' voice was right next to her, and as she turned, she did jump. A mechanical, vaguely humanoid figure was reaching out, and all she could see was a pair of red eyes and a mouthless set of fangs. The books scattered all over the floor, and Roll shrieked. This only made the man of metal bars and wires to laugh, and Roll scrambled behind an automated machine.

_" - Hahahaha! - "_ Bass' voice kept up the laughter. _" - Come out, Roll, it's just me. You already knew Sonata was changing out everything that she can while she has a chance. You've never seen the insides of a robot before? You're such a wimp. - "_

She nervously peeked out the side of the machine, noticing some resemblance to Bass...or he was at least just as tall.

"And she didn't take out your fangs...?"

_" - My new ones aren't finished yet. - "_

Skeleton Bass, done aggravating Roll for the time being, picked up the books. He pulled himself on a counter near one of the lab's few windows (also designed to look like a wall from the outside), and began reading, going into a more or less meditative state. Crystal Bot reappeared as he did so, looking a bit sad and anxious as she reapproached.

"Well, it was going to happen eventually." Her tone made Bass look up from his book. "I'm being recalled back into Team 5. Wave Man says I can finish what I'm doing with Forte, but before the week is out I have to be back at the space station. Aw, and I really wanted to go see Dr. Imahara. He's so cool!"

Bass grimaced as Roll spoke up. "Really? It seemed like you were going to stay Bass' partner forever."

"Wave Man did say I'd get recalled at some point, and it was fun while it lasted! But Forte-kun will be the strongest ever when I'm done, and I'll still upgrade him if he comes by the station. Aw, you'll miss me, won't you Forte?

_" - No. You're annoying. - "_

"Heehee, you're such a tease." Crystal laughed, waving away his comment before turning back to Roll. "I'm sorry, Roll, but I'm going to have to get a lot of work done in a lot faster time than I was expecting. I know you wanted to hang out this week..."

Roll just smiled cheerfully, looking very accomodating. "I understand. But, uh, you don't need help with anything?"

"Well...not really. Most of my materials are already made, and most of what remains is just installing it."

The red girl-bot nodded. "Alright then. I better head back to Monstropolis then. Rock will be waiting for me."

Dub came in, putting more of the books on the counter next to Bass before going over to his master and lifting one of his claws to tap her on the shoulder.

"Okay, little guy, let's let these guys get to it."

Dub made several computer worbles and beeps as he crawled onto Roll's back. Four of his legs became straps, and the other four retracted so that he could be worn as a simple backpack.

"Forte, come over here and get into the automated machine while I send Roll off." Crystal Bot said. "Bruce, you set the machine to go, okay?"

_" - Oh, you're going to get the bird to work on me? - "_

"Relax, you dork." Crystal Bot started pushing Roll along with her to the center of the lab. "All he's doing is pushing the start button. Now shoo!"

The metal framework that called itself Bass plodded towards the automated machine as Bruce and three of the Clefs got it started. Crystal Bot and Roll went out into the center room one more time, and the tech-bot handed her friend a small, spherical object.

"Here, you can have one of my teleportation devices. Let me transmit you the instructions...done! This'll help you get around quicker. Come see me when I'm back on the space station, okay?"

Roll nodded with a smile. "Okay?"

And Roll kept on smiling until both she and Dub teleported. Once the innards of Crystal Bot's lab had become the hangar bay of Light Laboratories, the girl-bot's facade dropped completely. She rubbed her eyes automatically, exhaling in melancholy. Dub beeped and looked at her curiously as he stepped down to the floor, but she didn't acknowledge him. Instead she barely paid attention as she walked further into the lab. It was just so frustrating. She had been hoping that staying with Crystal would at least distract her for a while, or maybe they would even include her on their travels. But now...nothing. Crystal Bot probably hadn't even needed her help in the first place, especially if it was faster just to send her away once she had to rush and complete Bass' restoration.

On her way outside, Roll passed by Auto in the main lab and paused. "Hey Auto, is Rock home?"

The goofy green robot looked up from his welding (Roll wasn't sure what he was trying to build). "No, he's out at work. Need something?"

Roll forced herself not to scowl. Mega Man was always on patrol, or at a job, or something for the police. "I guess not. Auto...oh never mind."

Auto was probably too busy to want to keep her company. Ever since Dr. Light died, both Auto and Rock had been more and more absorbed into their jobs. Roll just wished that she had something to get absorbed into. Noticing that her little green spider-bot was still following her, she turned around.

"Dub...go clean something, okay?"

The spider-bot made few noises and obeyed. As much as she appreciated Dub, Roll wished she had a more friendly, or at least more emotional robot assistant. Rush was out of the house, and a quick scan told her that Beat was as well. Roll couldn't stand it anymore. Looking around at the robotics technology was just too much. So she promptly left the house, going out into the sunny air and leaning against the wall.

Roll closed her eyes, thinking of the times when she used to serve Dr. Light. Her creator had always been wonderful, with cheery advice and stories. Even things that bored her were fun when Dr. Light described them. As much as the cheery sunlight on her face fought against it, her mouth's edges turned downwards. But she had sobbed enough in the past for her creator, and none of that grieving had ever brought him back. Resisting, she grappled with her feelings, forcing them down and out of her mind. It didn't work. She sighed and opened her eyes again.

"...Proto Man!" Before the aforementioned robot could do anything, Roll's arms were around him. "You have really good timing!"

Her big brother smiled, a little overwhelmed. But it was Roll, so he let her hug him for a minute. "How are you, sis?"

Roll nervously turned her toe in the grass. "Oh, I'm...okay. I'm just in-between jobs right now. But you do interesting things. What have you been up to lately?"

Blues didn't answer. He often told his sister stories of what he did - innocuous ones, and only if he had the time - but for now that wasn't his purpose. "I have some news for you, Roll. Kalinka is pregnant."

"Oh! How wonderful!" Roll squealed. "But why didn't she call me?"

"I wanted to be the one to tell you. And I also noticed that you're unemployed right now. Kalinka wants you to come and help her with the pregnancy and keeping her house in order. In fact, she insists on having you." Proto Man pointed to his left, and there next to the lab was his Proto Jet. "Come on, I'll give you a ride."

Roll could hardly contain herself. She jumped up and gave Proto Man another quick hug before running off to the the jet. Dub was summoned, and the green spider-bot came out to his mistress' side. Proto Man, happy for her, followed at a slower pace as his little sister asked him question after question about Kalinka. How far along was she? Was she already having morning sickness? How did her husband feel about everything?

_She might want to pause between questions if she really wants me to answer her._ An amused Proto Man thought as he opened the hatch to his jet and lifted his sister inside. But then again, it didn't matter to him. As long as Roll was finally out of her depression, he would be glad. She had always thought that no one knew that she had never really recovered from Dr. Light's death. But Blues knew. He could see it. He also knew that she would be much happier to be working in a situation where life was going to begin, rather than end.

Crystal Bot still liked her little brown wings. Maybe they were too small and harder to use midair, but they were still cute. Which was why she flew with them to Monstropolis instead of asking Bass to take her. She knew he had wanted to get back to Japan early so that he would be ready to protect Dr. Inafune's projects, and in fact she had wanted to get back to Monstropolis before Team 5 expected her. There was something she wanted to do first.

So she landed in the street, happy to be alone in the big city. Downtown Monstropolis was crowded that day, and shoppers were busily going from store to store. It was tourist season in late spring, and would be well into the summer. Fall generally brought more people interested in business, particularly robotics. Crystal didn't mind crowds. To her they were moving scenery, each blending into a fascinating city landscape.

A couple of people grimaced in her direction, but she ignored them. They had probably witnessed her short episode when she had been made a mechaniloid by Wily for a short time, and she had very nearly killed both Bass and their hero Mega Man. As much as she had been considered harmless by her ethics agent, Tim Reyes, the people were less quick to forget. But Crystal Bot just ignored them.

Crystal Bot was surprised that she had seemed to forget as well. Albert Wily had never been kind to her...not really. Though for years he had pretended to be her father, he had actually murdered her true creator, and went on to delete her personality and send her to fight their greatest enemy. She had barely survived. And after that he tricked her and tried to steal her back into his service. It had failed, but nonetheless it was strange even to her that she was going to the robot museum even still.

Thankfully, since it was later in the day, the museum itself wasn't too crowded. It would probably be closed in an hour or so. Crystal Bot wandered past the displays, noticing the broken corpses of Teams 1 and 2 as she went to the back. Team 1 had been eliminated a long time ago mostly by Bass when they had both rebelled against Wily, and Team 2 had fallen the same day of Wily's fatal heart attack. She tried not to giggle as she passed Heat Man, admiring the job the museum curators had done on his repair work. After being chewed up by both Rush and Treble, it was a miracle the zippo lighter-bot was recognisable at all.

It wasn't hard to get somber as she approached the gravestone. This one wasn't like ordinary gravestones, which would have been very creepy in the museum, but rather a sloped diagonal panel with deeply etched-in words: "Dr. Albert Wily - 19XX-20XX". The rest of the room was filled with Wily's robot master designs, a short biography, and a monitor for showing a video on his life. It wasn't on.

"Hi, Grandpa." Crystal Bot began quietly, sort of wanting to touch the gravestone, but at the same time afraid. "Um...I'm sorry I didn't go to the funeral. Bass...didn't want me to go. And to be honest, I didn't really want to either...funerals are creepy. And no offense, but you were a bad guy. It was just...really weird to see a bunch of good guys trying to get some sort of closure."

"And...oh Grandpa, Forte-kun's doing really well. He helped a lot of people last week when their bus drove off a cliff, and before that these guys tried to blow him up, but he survived! And just this week I made him some really nice armor, the best I've ever done. I wish you were here. You'd be so proud of him..." Her voice trailed off, knowing that she was lying, but hoping somehow that if Wily came back, he really would take pride in his most rebellious creation. "And um, I'm doing good too. I'm gonna go back to my team now, and I'm gonna work with them at the space station. Team 5 together again. You'd be really proud of them too. They're really helping science."

If she had been human, at this point tears would have started welling up in Crystal Bot's eyes. "Grandpa...I miss you...I know you weren't really my dad, and robots don't really have family anyway...I just want you to know that I forgive you, okay? For everything. I wish you had told me sooner about your heart condition. I would have taken care of you, despite everything. You know that."

Glitching, she really did touch his grave this time. Whatever she had been expecting to happen, didn't. It was just like touching a flat stone. Relieved, she sighed and continued. "I miss you, Grandpa. Rest in peace and all that stuff, okay?"

Crystal Bot sniffed and looked around. There were few people in the place, and probably no one saw her speak to the grave. She was a bit ashamed of speaking to someone who wouldn't hear her, but all the same, it felt appropriate. As she casually strolled out of the building, she began to feel better, thinking that when the anniversary of his death came up the next year, she might visit again. Shuddering, she instantly changed her mind and picked his birthday.

The tech-bot checked her internal chronometer. It was almost time to meet with Charge Man at Dr. Light's lab. Crystal didn't feel like teleporting straight there, especially since she had learned of Roll's new job, and that she wouldn't be home. Being in town for a while would be more fun.

But before she left the robot museum, Crystal passed by the front reception area. A delivery bot was there, and he had a huge crate with him. Crystal Bot wondered who it could have been. Only the most well known machines got a place in the museum. But then again, the crate was pretty large. Most robots wouldn't be big enough to fill it. The only one Crystal Bot could think of that would was Frost Man, but she knew that Frost Man was still on the loose somewhere, according to Japan's police report that had come out in the past week.

_Maybe it's a display or something._

Crystal Bot just had to look. The lid of the crate had already been opened for one of the museum workers to inspect the contents, so it would be simple to get a quick peek. The girl-bot surveyed for witnesses, and seeing none, she promptly crawled up the side of the crate and peered inside.

Maroon.

Everyone heard the scream. Crystal fell to the floor, letting the lid slam back down as she crumpled into a ball and started glitching uncontrollably, not caring in the slightest that she was making a scene.

"Crystal Bot? You're not supposed to be here!"

She didn't want to look or respond, but as the heavy footsteps of another robot approached, she let her crying be interrupted long enough to recognise her comrade. "Stone Man...it's...it's him...it's..."

Stone Man immediately picked her up off the floor and held her, hugging her tightly in his large arms. She sobbed into his shoulder as humans and robots alike gathered to the commotion. Wave Man approached them slowly. Never before did he hate his leadership over Team 5 than at that moment.

"You weren't supposed to find out this way." he said. "I'm sorry."

Crystal Bot didn't answer. She just clung tighter to Stone Man, crying only harder as she realized that one of her closest friends in the world was now no more.

"Gravity...Man..."

\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

- And so the first victim of the robot apocalypse is Gravity Man. So sorry, buddy. Let's do that character profile.

======Gravity Man

**"Yet the earth does move."**

Good Point: Devoted researcher

Bad point: Unsocial attitude

Like: Physical science

Dislike: Cosmic space

Has anyone ever noticed that nobody in Team 5 besides Stone Man is really that social? Star Man likes the emptiness of space, Wave Man prefers being alone, people avoid Napalm Man, and now this guy has an unsocial attitude. I imagine that the only thing holding the team together is their shared history of being mocked. In any case, up, here's another. Gravity Man has always liked science, which was really the main source of the conflict between him and Crystal Man. This was only made worse when Wily chose Crystal Man to be in charge of Team 5, and made him into a technical assistant, leaving Gravity Man to his work of researching scientists and stealing their data for Wily's work.

Though Gravity Man was fairly bitter about it, Crystal Man's sudden death turned his attitude around. Gravity Man was the only member of Team 5 who got to see the upgrades that Crystal Man had made for them before Wily deleted everything, and once he saw what his late team leader had made for him he changed his tone. He even ended up being very close to Crystal Bot as they worked together under Wily. After Team 5 chose to leave Wily, Gravity Man served as the space station's technician, and he had been happily working there until his unfortunate death.

- Finding a song for this chapter was hard, but here it is. Maybe adding a soundtrack is weird, like Anmynous said, and quite frankly, finding something for this chapter was difficult because this wasn't as exciting as later chapters will be. But listening to certain tracks really inspired me for this part of the story, which I've had in mind since Okkusenman. Well, if you don't think it works, then well, just check the music if you want. In any case, the song is Memories of Blue. Seems to work.

- _Yolshimhi hapshida_ means "let's do our best" in korean. Seoraksan is a mountain in east Korea, Seoul is the capital, and Asan is a southwest city known for its industrialization. I like Korea. Can you tell?

- Robots have mouths, lips, and vocal cords more or less similar to humans' so that they can speak audibly. Naturally, when Bass' face is removed, he can only speak in transmissions.


	3. Nautical Conquest

Mega Man was on the job, but much less eagerly than usual. For once he was glad that Roll had left the lab. The sight of Crystal Bot grieving would definitely have been too much for his sister. Thankfully Jewel Man had arrived, and the shiny girl-bot was in his arms, unable to decide if she wanted to be furious or depressed. She just stiffly leaned on her "stepfather", her brow furrowed in hate as they sat together on a workbench. Charge Man and Stone Man were also there. They looked at Mega Man with expectancy, willing him to avenge their loss.

"Alright, Wave Man, tell me what you know." the bomber said. "Maybe there's some sort of clue left."

"Very well." Wave Man's gargly voice was more solemn than ever. "There is little to tell. He was not on the space station when it happened. Gravity Man had gone down to Monstropolis to retrieve some supplies, and he was being monitored the entire time by Star Man. He met no one unusual, and accessed only normal computers that most robots would use on a daily basis. And in an instant there was nothing. We immediately lost all contact with Gravity Man, and that was when we sent Star Man and Gyro Man to search for him. They found him in an alley in Monstropolis...well, you saw his physical condition at the museum."

"Is there anything that can be done to fix him?" Crystal Bot asked, getting up from Jewel Man's side. "I haven't gotten a look yet. I can fix him. I've got to!"

"Show her the scans." Wave Man told Auto. "She has to see it."

Auto nodded. Crystal Bot apprehensively got up from her seat and approached the monitor as the green repair-bot started pushing buttons. The damages flashed on the screen. Though robots like Mega Man and Jewel Man wouldn't understand what they meant, Crystal Bot knew exactly what was before her, and her face fell as her false optimism faded away

"He was attacked..." she slowly murmured, almost hypnotized by the detailed images she saw. "By more than one person. Robots, not humans. You can tell because humans would use special bullets, and he's got some punch hits that a human couldn't do. And they...they beat him up pretty badly. Gravity Man was outnumbered, and he's not the best of Team 5's fighters. Those brain scans there show that someone was trying to hack him. He's got my anti-virus program, which attacks hackers. So whoever did it will have data damage."

Though she had been doing well enough to keep herself together, Crystal Bot shook painfully as she glitched. But she shook her head and persisted. "Every anti-virus program has its weaknesses, and hacking past one is a matter of time, no matter who programmed it. I think...I think whoever was hacking managed to get pretty far. What was left of Gravity Man's brain showed that he did a program termination -- his whole mind was deleted, and there's no reversal for it. He's Team 5's main programmer and technician, so if anybody got hold of that information, it would be bad. He probably killed himself so they wouldn't get it."

Wave Man shook his head. "I am vaguely familiar with how your anti-virus program works. It would take even expert programmers a great length of time to get around it. Gravity Man was gone for just short of a day when Star Man lost contact with him. He at least would have tried to escape or contact us before it came to that, unless things were too difficult for him."

Crystal Bot didn't answer. She just stared at the floor, refusing to acknowledge anyone. Jewel Man approached, and she even refused to look at him.

It broke Mega Man's heart to see her like that. "The police are already doing a full investigation. They'll have witnesses' testimonies, and from there I'll be able to figure out what happened. And he was in the city, so there's bound to be a security camera that caught something. We'll find out who did this, Crystal."

She glanced at him slightly. Catching sight of his pitying eyes, she immediately grimaced and turned away, but nodded to acknowledge what he was saying. Mega Man wished he could get through to her.

"So what do we do?" Charge Man asked Mega with determination. "This is an attack on Team 5! We can't let them get away with this!"

"We also can't charge in when we have no suspect." Mega Man replied, scratching his head in confusion. He was starting to get the feeling that this whole situation was way beyond him. "I'm going to have to check what the police have to be more sure of what's going on."

"Whoever did this did it against our team for a reason." Wave Man said. "My only guess is that the remaining robot masters have collaborated to strike us in revenge. I don't see why anyone else would be motivated to hurt Gravity Man."

"Was he researching anything important?" Mega Man asked. "Something that was potentially profitable or dangerous? Or maybe he found out something that someone wouldn't want him to know?"

"He researched anything and everything." The team leader's answer was simple. "But everything we do is legally required to be known by the government. I can have a summary of his latest work sent to you."

"Good. Please do." Rock nodded. "I really hope that this can be dealt with simply, but until then, Team 5 should stick together. Don't go off the station alone. I'll report everything I find to you."

"Are they going to come after Crystal Bot?" Stone Man, suddenly worried, asked. "She's our full time tech now, so they might try to hack her if they couldn't get to Gravity Man."

The girl-bot immediately looked up in defiance. "I'd like to see them try. Forte-kun trained me! And he'd even come kick their butts himself!"

"Don't forget us!" Charge Man held up his fist and turned red, looking like he was going to shoot his coal. "None of those robot masters will stand a chance!"

"Whoa, hold on." Mega Man tried to keep them calm. "We don't even know that it was the robot masters, and even then we don't know the motivation. For now we just have to figure things out. I'm on my way to the police station to see what they can tell me. For now you should just tighten security, especially at your lab, Crystal."

"Are you kidding?" she commented in a sour tone. "My lab's security is ridiculous. This _is _me we're talking about."

"He's only trying to help." Jewel Man said.

"I know, I know." The exasperated tech-bot answered. "Look, I've got a lot of work to do at the space station. I better get up there. There's a lot I need to get used to. I've been with Forte more than I've been with my own team these past years...and now..."

She clenched her fists tightly, shuddering. But with a forced breath, she got herself together, trying to be a little dignified. Jewel Man only frowned. He firmly took Crystal Bot by the shoulders, forcing her to face him.

"Crystal, I don't want you to be angry." he explained. "You shouldn't be bitter either. Don't change from the sweet girl that I know into something ugly, no matter what happens, alright? Don't let anyone take away your happiness and spirit."

Her quivering lips betrayed her resolve, and she buried her face into Jewel Man's chest, glitching helplessly. "I love you, Jewel Man _Ahbohjee_."

Charge Man and Stone Man gathered around the two shiny-bots, and the three guy-bots began to talk amongst themselves. Wave Man, his face more grim than ever, turned to comment one last time to the exiting bomber.

"Get to the bottom of this, Rock." he said, his voice deepening almost to a threatening tone. "We cannot let them get away with the death of Gravity Man. We will not stand for it."

"I'll do my best." Mega Man answered, sounding as heroic as he always had in the past. "We'll figure this out, you'll see."

The bomber turned away and grabbed his helmet, placing it firmly on his head over his wavy black hair. He strided out the door with an air of confidence, signalling for Rush to meet him outside. But the instant that he had walked out of the lab's door and closed it behind himself, Mega Man stopped. Just for a moment he collapsed against a wall, covering his face with his hands. Glitching just once, he shook his his head in fear. He had no business trying to give Wave Man hope, not when he had little of his own.

_What am I supposed to do?_ _Dr. Light...I need you more than ever...._

Mega Man sniffed. Gravity Man had been his friend as well, and it tore him up that he was gone. This was the first time that he had ever lost a robot friend, and he couldn't help but wonder at how Dr. Wily had kept all of his robots alive even though Rock had defeated them all at one point (or more than one point in some cases) or another. But there was nothing that could be done for the maroon tech-bot.

_No, that's not true! I can get to the bottom of this and make sure that this never happens again! Come on, Rock! Everyone is depending on you!_

----

"Thanks for all your help!" Dr. Kenneth Imahara said as the last of his robots put all of his experiments on the shipping freighter. "If you don't mind, I'd like to hire you for just a bit longer. I'd feel better if you came along to Monstropolis with us."

Bass nodded automatically. He wasn't really paying Dr. Imahara that much attention. The Japanese port was a very distracting place, and it was his job to keep his eyes open. Robots and humans alike were everywhere, packing or removing various cargoes from various ships. Surprisingly, teleportation hadn't replaced a lot of traditional shipping, as teleportation had its limits, especially for mass quantities, non-robots, or living cargo. Fishing boats littered the more southern part of the port, but this part was purely commercial. The early morning in Japan was lovely, and undisturbed by baddies. He quietly let out a breath.

"Are you alright?" the human scientist asked as they both boarded the boat. "You've been a bit distracted since yesterday."

"Eh, I'm fine." Bass never got used to people asking him that. "It's just that one of my technician's friends was killed a couple of days ago and I'm probably going to have to check on her when I get back."

"Do you need to go right away? The freighter will take some time."

"Ugh, no." the dark robot rolled his eyes. "Crystal Bot's too sensitive. She needs to toughen up. I'll get there when I get there."

"How sympathetic."

"Eh, she'll get over it."

As they reached the deck, Treble barked at them both. The dog sniffed Dr. Imahara first, then barked happily at his master, reporting that all was safe on the boat. Bass reached down and scratched Treble's ears before he and the doctor moved on, and the wolf went back to expecting everyone who got on board. Dr. Imahara started speaking to the captain of the boat in swift, flawless japanese, making sure that all of his experimental equipment was packed in tightly and safely. Bass wasn't listening to the conversation, but he could definitely tell that the sailor was getting annoyed at the scientist's questioning. For someone with such a young, childlike face, Dr. Imahara could certainly be insistent.

Bass started going around the ship, looking for anything suspicious. He wasn't expecting to find anything, but it was his job to make sure nothing went wrong. After all, this was Dr. Light's second cousin in-law. Kenneth was the principle human heir of Dr. Light, and many people were expecting him to take on Dr. Light's role as the leading brain in robotics technology. In fact, the doctor was now moving to Monstropolis, the capital of all robotics, to get to work on his own line of androids. Imahara was no Light, but then again, no one was. Bass doubted that anyone with Light's genius would show up in the next three hundred years, at least.

The black and gold robot started to wish that a Wily-bot would show up. He was in the mood to punch something in the face.

_Rock __**better **__find Gravity Man's killer..._

-----

It was a normal evening for Splash Woman. The mermaid-bot sat on the rocky outcropping as she always did, watching the waters around her and looking out into the distance to see if anything became visible in the lighthouse's beams that shone from the cliff above. It had been days since Dr. Imahara's freighter had left its port, and like always, she tracked it. Splash Woman cheerfully slapped at the waves with her tail. Contentedly putting down her trident, she pulled out her ocarina and began to play.

There it was. That sound of the waves on the rocks behind her. She had heard the lapping of water all her life, and Splash Woman knew when the waters were being disturbed.

"You can come out now." she said, her sing-song voice tainted by annoyance as she immediately picked up her trident. "Don't think I can't see you there."

"Ahoy yerself, Love." Pirate Man spoke up, not letting her tone bother him as he walked out of the water and to the rocks nearest the merrow-bot. "And I weren't sneakin' up. I wish ye'd get on with yer playin'. A sea shanty as haunting as that is somethin' that could keep a bot in good spirits for months on the high seas. Sad now that there's no more time for it."

Those last few words were a bit cryptic, so Splash Woman's lips twisted in doubt as she aimed the sharp blade of her weapon, ready to strike quickly if her enemy made any sudden moves. "I'm on the job now, Pirate Man. I don't have time for your mischief."

Pirate Man laughed heartily, and began to go to the rock closest to the Light-bot. "Harr. It's been many a year since you and I began our rivalry. I must say, yer a sight more lovely to an old sea-dog's eyes than that Dive Man, Love."

"Stop calling me that! We're enemies! Now don't come any closer!"

The insistant girl-bot did finally manage to chip Pirate Man's humorous nature a bit. "Arr, listen for a mite, would ye? I just want to have a word."

"Fine, talk." she answered curtly, without lowering her weapon. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to tell ye a thing or two..." The uncouth robot sombered a bit. "That ye've been a right fine lass, a sassy daughter o' Neptune like no other. A right beauty of the deep. Aye, the most fun I've ever had in me sad life was to fight you, lass, and I wish it would be an eternity for us to go on."

Splash Woman couldn't help but be exasperated. "You endangered human lives just waiting for me to show up! You even once locked Jewel Man in a treasure chest and all I had was a stupid map to find him by."

"Aye," Pirate Man's voice took on a dreamier tone as he stared out into the ocean. "Twas the days, those were. I'll miss 'em. Hm, look there. It be the very vessel Dr. Imahara is on."

The merrow-bot looked to where he was pointing, and indeed it was. She was always told the names of the vessels, and had been careful to find out which one bore the doctor. But then she grew suspicious.

"How do you know that?"

Pirate Man didn't answer. He exhaled slowly before he began to talk. "I wanted to be the one to tell ye, to lay eyes on ye one last time, Love. And whatever happens, know this: I was against everything from the very beginning. Though lonely have I been on the seas, I still have a master's word to go by. But just so yer aware, I was never agreed about it." he sighed before continuing. "Aye, that's the life of a robot."

"What....what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about fate, dear lass." Pirate Man lifted his claws. "Though me master was stuck on his own ways, he let me have one last thing: to be the one to fight ye, Love. And if ye get out of this alive....think well of old Pirate Man."

Screams broke out on the deck of the freighter. Splash Woman was shocked as robot masters jumped down from a skull shaped aircraft onto the deck. She could distinctly see Aqua Man, Plant Man and Yamato Man doing their best to get the freighter to sink. Immediately she went to dive into the water, but found a metal claw holding her back.

"Nay, lass." Pirate Man said with dark insolence as he leaned close over her shoulder. "Don't forget I get to duel ye first."

He flung her on the large boulders, and she her tail cracked as it hit. But that didn't stop her. Shooting out her splash trident, she managed to get a hit or two on him before he jumped down, pulling her beneath the waves. There the fight continued, but it wasn't long before the very determined Splash Woman had him cornered. She slashed only once, and Pirate Man's head was seperated once and for all from his body. Wasting no time to muse over his fate, Splash Woman surfaced to get a better look at the ship. Though perhaps if she had looked, she would have noticed the two metal poles in the water.

The freighter didn't seem to be in too much trouble. Though the fight was still going on, Dr. Imahara's robots were doing a fairly good job at keeping the Wily-bots in check. The shredded remains of Aqua Man fell from the side of the boat, and Splash Woman smirked as she remembered that Bass was on board. But she wasn't going to let him do all the work. She started to send out a transmission to Mega Man to let him know what was going on.

Suddenly she swung around. Her trident slashed into something that had been flying through the air. Determined and alert, Splash Woman snapped her trident around, searching the water and air for any sign of another attacker. But she saw nothing. Taking a risk, she quickly grabbed the object before it sank, allowing herself to examine it with one eye.

_An arm? Where did this come --_

She never saw the other one. It grabbed her by the neck and snatched her out of the water so quickly that she lost hold of her trident. The arm she was holding pulled itself out of her grasp and went flying back up to the side of its master, but the other one still had a firm grip on the merrow-bot.

"You!" she exclaimed.

Trying her hardest, Splash Woman tried to send out another transmission, but she suddenly found that her communications were down. Unarmed and trapped, she tried to pry the fingers of the strange flying arm from around her neck as her captor laughed. Then, all at once, the struggling stopped.

"What am I doing in the air?" Splash Woman asked with uncertainty. "What am I doing? Who am I? And....wait, who are you two?"

Splash Woman fearfully widened her eyes, realizing that her data was being destroyed slowly. They wanted her to know it was being done. And just before it faded out completely, a massive electronic current went through her body, sizzling her circuits. The arm flung her out into the ocean, and Splash Woman's body sank down to the sea floor, lifeless.

The arm went down once more.

"I get....Laser Trident! Heeheeehahaaha!"

"Come on, let's get out going. There's a little more we need to do before we leave."

"Idley by we cannot stand! We must continue with the plan!"

"That's doesn't quite rhyme, you know."

"It's an assonance. Muaahahaheeehee!"

---

Now that Aqua Man was out of the way, Bass began firing his double busters at Plant Man. The hot plasma tore through Plant Man, easily ripping him to shreds. Though he could hardly have done much damage to the dark robot himself, he looked like he was heading for Dr. Imahara's cabin, where the Japanese scientist was currently holed up. Bass went over to Dr. Imahara's cabin and pushed the speaker button.

"Everyone alright here?" Bass barked.

Dr. Imahara, safe behind the heavy, bolted door, answered, "Everything's fine. We haven't even been bothered yet. What about my experiments?"

Bass was trying to sense out the locations of the enemy robot masters, and he barely heard. "It's fine, Treble's got it. I'll be right outside your cabin, so don't worry about --"

"What? Your _dog_?" Imahara's furious voice crackled as it came through the speaker. "I have million dollar equipment on this boat!"

"Treble is a better fighter than any of those idiots. I know how they are. And besides, you're the only one who knows how your experiments work, so stealing them won't do any good if they can't get you."

"Look," the scientist said. "I hired you to protect my life's work, so that's what you'll do! I have guards!"

Bass scowled, thinking that the doctor was very lucky that the dark robot now had the three laws installed. He didn't want to bother with the annoying human anyway. He checked the password lock and then ran off, thinking hateful thoughts about his occupation. He snarkily ordered guards on several of the rooms, hoping that it wouldn't be obvious which was the doctor's.

_" ---- Treble, what's the situation in the store room? ---- "_

Treble replied in his coding, informing his master that none of the masters had harmed any of the sensitive equipment on board. He also replied that besides Aqua Man, the robot masters that had been attacking the shipping boat were all but one of the remnants of Team 6: Plant Man, Yamato Man, Knight Man, Centaur Man, and Flame Man. Bass ran to where Dr. Imahara's store room, only to be stopped out in the night air by an armored master with a free swinging mace.

"It has been a long time, traitor." Knight Man spoke in his deep, noble voice, lifting his mace arm above his head. "And it is long time that I brought you to your end."

"Ha!" Bass laughed. "Thanks, I needed that. That's the funniest joke I've heard in a while. You don't really think you'll beat me?"

"No..." he admitted with some reluctance. "But it is not my place to question my orders."

"Orders? Wily's dead, you moron."

A sudden movement alerted Bass that someone was behind him, and he swung one arm back, taking aim at Yamato Man. Surprisingly, the trickster behind him didn't seem to be trying to stab him in the back (or had been detected too early). Instead he waved to Knight Man.

"Let's go, Knight!" Yamato Man said. "We're done here!"

"Hey, wait!"

Bass tried shooting at the two Team 6 robots, but they teleported out far too quickly. Moreover, they had scrambled their teleportation codes. Tracking them was out of the question. Bass swore loudly.

"They're all gone!" One of the Imahara-bots ran towards Bass. "We were fighting Centaur Man on the bow, and he just teleported out."

"What about Flame Man?"

"I think your wolf got him."

"Eh, okay. Go check and make sure that all of Imahara's crap is still on board."

"Right."

Bass was less than enthralled with what was going on. The robot masters hadn't been on the ship long at all. What could they have stolen? Bass thought things over in his head. Centaur Man had still been on the deck when he teleported out, so he couldn't have done much. So was Knight Man. Plant Man and Aqua Man had gone down quickly, and with Treble guarding Imahara's equipment and fighting Flame Man, that left only Yamato Man's actions unaccounted for. Even then, there was barely any time for Yamato Man to do anything serious. But Bass started running anyway, getting the feeling that he had done something stupid.

And he had. As he went down into the cabins, he saw casualty after casualty amongst the Imahara-bots. Most of them only had mildly serious injuries, as if hit while an elusive enemy passed them by. Bass ignored them as he went on to his real destination. The password panel to Imahara's cabin door was smashed. As Bass pulled the slightly cracked door the rest of the way open, he noticed a yellowish vapor escape. Inside were all five of Dr. Imahara's guards, each completely unharmed, and completely terrified. One of them wordlessly showed the black and gold robot an empty canister.

Nerve gas. Of course Yamato Man would have something up his sleeve.

\\\\\

- Well finally! I put Splash Woman in....right before she dies. How lovely of me. Well, to make it up, I'll do her character profile. Notedly, Splash Woman doesn't have a Mega Man and Bass data disc, so I'm making this up. While we're at it, let's get Pirate Man, who does have a disc.

======Splash Woman

**"I'm here to help!"**

Good point: brave

Bad point: can't walk

Likes: karaoke

Dislikes: bad guys

Splash Woman to me has seemed a lot more grown up than Roll. She is mature, professional, and matronly. She has a voice like a song and is an expert at rescue missions. However, if MM9 is any indication, homegirl isn't much of a fighter, though her weapon does do the most damage to Mega in-game. Pirate Man, on the other hand, is a mischevious guy, not at all professional. He's a trickster, and of course collects gold and whatever other treasures he can get his hands on.

Splash Woman is of course an ocean hero, and she works with the coast guard. She's done little else besides play her ocarina or sing on special occasions. She loves her job, and lives for it. Very little changed for her when Dr. Light died, except she became the property of her boss, Admiral Tim "Tin Man" Hathers. You will never hear mention of that human in my stories ever, most likely, but lol, I felt like making it up anyway. Splash Woman admires him as a leader, and is happy to serve him.

======Pirate Man

**"It is useless to beg for mercy!"**

Good point: Fearless

Bad point: Scoundrel

Like: Money-making

Dislike: Fair negotiation

Pirate Man was made by Wily to be a distraction for Dive Man, who was beginning to trouble the Wily-bots once he was reprogrammed for good after MM4. Pirate Man was always very independent, and he never liked having to share his booty with the boss, so it wasn't hard for King to sway him. Once he rebelled, he expected to be scrapped, but surprisingly Wily still allowed him to live. However, he went through extensive reprogramming, and his AI was changed so that now he stores the treasures he finds for Wily, rather than keeps them for himself. He is also unable to speak or think about rebellion, and doesn't carry as many of the free-will extra programs that the other robots do so that they can be flexible with their orders for smart thinking.

This caused Pirate Man a lot of bitterness, but once Splash Woman was built, he cheered up considerably. He loved goading her, and was outright joyful when Wily took control of her during MM9. Pirate Man refuses to forgive Mega Man for defeating her and having her reprogrammed back as a good guy. But either way, Splash Woman was always a little creeped out by him, and rejected his efforts to get her to join him. He loves their rivalry, and loves pranking her. It doesn't even bother him that much if she defeats him unless she gets away with some of his treasure.

- Merrow is the gaelic word for mermaid. Being both Irish and pretentious, I prefer this word. :D Oh yeah, and _Ahbohjee _is "father" in korean, if you missed my other stories.

- Bah, I give up! I'm not going to do the whole soundtrack thing. Certain songs did inspire me to write later chapters, but not these ones, and it's really difficult to find songs that match. I'm just working on logic here. But, because I still want to share some depressing songs I found, here's another that comes from an album of remixed MM1 songs: It's a remix of the Cut Man theme, and I just love it. www. youtube .com /watch?v=vB6X2xftiZk 


	4. Not a Beginning, But an End

"Thank you, Wave Man." Mega Man barely managed to say without choking. "I appreciate you bringing them back."

Back in Light Laboratories, the mood had never been so low. Mega Man had returned from gathering the witness information from the police only to find that one of the very few relatives of Dr. Light was now dead. Things had been absolutely crazy, but for now a full investigation was under way, and a very foul Bass was being questioned by their ethics agent, Tim Reyes. Mega Man had to admit that he was afraid to let the dark robot in the house, as he looked like his temper was going to crack at any moment. And of course the first thing anyone did when investigating a water circumstance was to wonder where Splash Woman was. Fearing the worst, Mega had asked for Wave Man's help, and it was very obvious that Wave Man had not enjoyed the experience. But he was a dutiful robot, he brought back not only Splash Woman, but Pirate Man and Aqua Man. Wave Man carried the mermaid, and Gyro Man behind him had the bogeys.

"It's nothing." the aquatic robot answered the blue bomber stiffly, as Gyro Man began putting the robots onto repair tables next to Flame Man's broken body. "Please excuse me, but I must return to my team. In only a few minutes the space station's orbit will be out of teleportation range."

"Wait just a minute." Auto spoke up as he began putting wires in the zip drives of the robots. "I want to test something, and if it turns out how I think it will, you'll want to see it."

"You can send me a message on the space station." Wave Man replied, before pausing and reconsidering. "Wait, Gyro Man, you remain behind. I know you are eager to be a part of this investigation. Help Mega Man in whatever way he needs for this until you can teleport to us, or until you receive further orders."

"Right!"

Gyro Man's eyes gleamed at the thought of revenge. As Wave Man entered the super teleporter and disappeared, Gyro Man went and stood next to the blue bomber, nodding in a way that made plain his desire to be thought of as an equal partner. Mega Man cracked a smile, a little jealous of Gyro Man's spirit. The two quietly listened as Reyes continued to question Bass.

"And what were the damages?"

"Sixteen of Imahara's robots were injured, but they could be repaired. Yamato Man got Dr. Imahara with nerve gas, and him, Knight Man, and Centaur Man got away."

"And where were you when this happened?"

The dark robot's scowl deepened. He wasn't liking this line of questioning. "I was on deck when it started. After I got Aqua Man and Plant Man, I went to guard Imahara. Like an idiot he told me to go look after his stuff, and when I was gone Yamato Man snuck in and got him."

"Isn't that just like a scientist?" Mega Man remarked to Gyro Man. "They're always thinking of their work and not themselves."

"Wily was never like that." Gyro Man said with not a little darkness. "If there was the slightest bit of danger, you could be sure that Wily wasn't there. His only exceptions were the times he fought you, and that was only because he knew you would never kill him."

The red eyes of Bass slowly turned towards them with a meaningful glare, communicating a very clear "shut up". Gyro Man shuddered, but Mega Man wasn't paying attention. He was thinking.

"That really makes it sound like the robots were after only Dr. Imahara." the bomber said to Reyes. "If they didn't take any of the shipping and they left right when Yamato Man returned, all they wanted to do was kill him. That's not how Wily-bots normally act."

"Knight Man said something about orders." Bass said. "They must have been reprogrammed and taken over by someone who didn't care that much about the equipment."

"What did you do with all it, anyway?" The ethics agent asked.

"I brought it here. That idiot wanted all of the crap he's been working on safe, and that's how it's going to be." Bass snapped. "I'm not going to risk it get damaged or stolen in police impound. If you have a problem with that, cry about it. I'm at least going to get _that _part of my job right."

"Just as I thought..." Auto, still bent over a computer, interrupted the questioning. "Everyone, come look at this!"

"What did you find?" Mega Man asked as everyone gathered around the monitor, which showed the scematics of all four robots.

"Nothing! And I do mean it --- absolutely nothing. Look-" Auto pointed to the data scans of Splash Woman. "From what I can tell, her memory was completely wiped out, just like Gravity Man. Aqua Man and Pirate Man had more disturbing signs: they each had a little mechanism and small power source in their heads, so that if they suffered a crippling blow to their power cores, their minds would be deleted and we wouldn't be able to recover any useful data. Treble, however, attacked Flame Man's head in such a way that the device meant to destroy his mind didn't work completely. I think I can recover some data from that, but it will be a while."

The purple wolf, which to this point had been just as depressed as his master, wagged his tail. For once his love of chewing robot master's heads came in handy. Bass rubbed between his ears.

"So that means..." Gyro Man said, sending a transmission of the discovery to his base. "That whoever killed Gravity Man is the same one that went against Dr. Imahara. That person must be a ridiculous programmer if they can destroy people's memories like that."

Mega Man groaned. "Oh no...that makes what I found this week that much worse. Here, there was a robot in town who saw Gravity Man that last day, and...I'll just let you see his memory clip."

He loaded the chip into the screen of bustling Monstropolis. "Okay, so there's Gravity Man passing by, and then the robot looks off to the side --- and pause! Auto, zoom in on that side street there."

They all leaned in. There, as a barely discernable blur, was a robot. A very distinctive one, at that. It was someone they had never expected to ever see again: Epic Man. But there was the midnight blue robot, just walking around as another sentient machine would. Even though the image was distorted from the crowd and Epic Man's walking speed, the heroes could just barely make out his devious grin.

"Dr. Cain!" Gyro Man seethed. "Of course he would be behind this! He's probably the best virus programmer alive!"

"Ah, then I can do something about it."

The others turned around to find a dark Crystal Bot behind them. Her angry eyes hung low with a grievious rage, and she glared out of them in complete determination.

"What are you doing here?" her team member protested. "You won't be able to teleport back to the station for another day and a half, and they'll need you!"

"You guys need me more." She retorted before turning to the others. "Alright, Forte-kun, take this yellow chip and install the programs on it. Rock, you get the blue one, and give this red one to Proto-kun next time you see him."

"What's on them?" Mega Man asked, observing the chip curiously before sticking it in his neck. Bass installed the chip without even thinking as Crystal continued.

"It's all your absorbable powers from the Cain-bots. I went ahead and gave each of you the same powers you had before, except I copied the echelon heatshock so that all of you can have it 'cause it's so powerful."

The human, who had gone forgotten in the past few minutes, immediately protested. "That's illegal! All robot master powers have to be deleted once the team is dealt with!"

Crystal Bot looked at him with disgust. "Hello? Epic Man is running around out there murdering my friends, so his team is obviously not defeated, and so therefore it's legal." The girl-bot turned to Mega Man. "Honestly, Rock, you could have had all your powers back when Wily revived the masters. I double-checked the laws, and it doesn't say you can't have the powers if the masters come back."

Mega Man was unsure. He didn't like bending the law, but seeing how Tim Reyes was unable to come up with an argument against it, Mega Man reluctantly began installing the powers. After all, he would need any advantage he could get.

"But there's something I don't get." the blue bomber said. "Only Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were any good at bringing back destroyed robot masters. How could Dr. Cain fix his team like that?"

"He's been on the lam for five years." Gyro Man said. "There's no telling what he's learned. But where is he going to strike next?"

Mega Man was able to guess. "Hmm...Gravity Man was a technician, and Dr. Imahara was into robotics science, so..."

He didn't have to finish that. Immediately everyone in the room gasped, and Bass literally growled.

"That's it, I'm going to Cossack's now. And YOU-" here he pointed to Crystal Bot. "Don't you even think about leaving the lab."

"And you too, Bass."

The look on the dark robot's face made Tim Reyes very grateful for the three laws as he continued. "You're still under investigation for Dr. Imahara's death, don't forget."

"What is this crap?!!" Bass snarled, pounding a fist into the nearest repair table. "Do people really think that I'm going to stick to all your stupid rules for five years just to screw it all up the very second I get done with your retarded probation?!! I can't kill humans!!"

Reyes sighed, rubbing his wrinkled forehead. "Look, I know better than you do how dumb the rules are in this case. But if I let you go before my boss is alright with it, then it's both our jobs. Some of the higher ups are convinced that you let Yamato Man kill Dr. Imahara. But by tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow at most, I can have things cleared up. Just trust me."

Resisting the urge to punch something else, the dark robot let out a deep breath and tried to calm down. It worked for all of two seconds.

"What are you still doing here?!!" Bass hissed at Mega Man, who jumped back in surprise. "If Cossack dies because of you then I'll tear you apart!!"

"I'll cover your back, Mega!" Gyro Man volunteered. "We'll have to stick together if we're going to beat the Cain-bots."

"By the time you come back, me and Auto can have an upgrade ready for your heads." Crystal Bot added. "We'll try to make sure that they can't delete you like they did to....the others."

"Right!" Mega Man said, feeling a little better about everything. "Let's go, Gyro Man!"

It took the blue bomber just a second to signal for Rush to get ready, and in that moment he paused and looked back at Bass. The furious fighter-bot was trembling with rage, and wouldn't calm down even at Crystal Bot's insistence. Bass returned the look, sneering back at the bomber. And as tough as he pretended to be, it was clear to Mega Man that he wanted to redeem himself for not saving Dr. Imahara. Rock wasn't sure how to feel about that, but he knew that if things kept going they way they were now, then Bass would get his chance.

Rush was ready, so Mega Man and Gyro Man teleported out.

----------

The baby's room was turning out beautifully. Roll still thought it was a little silly that Kalinka wanted to finish the baby's room before they knew if it was a girl or a boy, but that was why they were painting the room green and yellow, rather than pink or blue. But Kalinka was so excited. This was her first child, and she had every right to be. And that was why the usually fastidious young woman was covered in speckles of spring green paint.

"And that is the second layer!" Kalinka exclaimed happily as she finished the last few strokes of the wall. "When it is dry, we will do the stenciling for the borders. Alyosha will be so surprised to see it when he comes home! Oh, do you think we will have time to buy the crib while it dries?"

"We should." Roll guessed. With the couple's home a lot closer to society than Dr. Cossack's, going to the store was much less of an event for Kalinka than it had been. Alyosha's credit cards were proof of that. "But don't you think you're working too hard? You do have a while until the baby comes."

Kalinka shook her finger at the housekeeper-bot. "Nonsense. I am not a cripple, and I want to have this done before I get all fat and lazy and sick in the mornings. It is so much fun!"

"You're not going to get too big, Kalinka. You take too good care of yourself." Roll insisted with a smile. "Except that this morning you barely ate anything because you were so excited about painting. But that's where I come in! I'm going to make you something now. You just take a minute to rest."

"I said I am not a cripple!" Kalinka called out as Roll left, more teasing than anything else.

Roll liked the Polovstiansky's house. It was surprisingly normal for a robotics scientist's home, other than being grandiose. Having grown up in a home without a mother, Kalinka had rarely ever had the chance to live in a place she could decorate herself, and in a more feminine, homey way. Dr. Cossack's lab came straight from old sci fi movies, but this place could have been featured in a housing magazine. Roll happily went over to the kitchen, with its large, marble counters and all the latest appliances.

"Eeek!"

"Roll? Are you alright?"

"Yes...it's just Skull Man again..."

Roll stared warily at the skeleton shaped Cossack-bot. But she got no reaction from him. She couldn't even tell if he was laughing at her or not -- though she had the sneaking suspicion that he was. He always seemed to enjoy standing perfectly still in a hallway, just waiting for someone to walk by and jump out of their skin. Dr. Cossack had given Skull Man to Kalinka when she married, and for some reason the terrifying robot never bothered the human. She was probably even going to bring him along to haul bags when they went shopping.

Roll shuddered. She peeked back once as she went off to the kitchen, and she swore she saw his eyes narrow with sinful glee. The girl-bot had to wonder how well Skull Man had been reprogrammed after his team fought her brother. But she went on anyway, trying to focus on making pasta salad and not the cold, bone-shaped robot behind her.

"When will you be home, 'Yosha?" As Kalinka cruised to the kitchen, not a bit disturbed by Skull Man as she went over and plopped down at the breakfast table. "You spend all day at work, so how can I not go shopping? It's so boring at home and you're always out working so hard at the lab. Oh, just kidding. You'll be back tonight? Good. You need to spend more time with me and not my Papa. Some days I think you like him better." Kalinka paused, before blushing. "I cannot believe you said that! So cheeky! Oh? Fine. But when you come home I get you to myself, okay? Bye, love you."

Mrs. Polovstiansky hung up her phone and pouted, staring at her ring finger and the rather large diamond thereon. "Hmph. That's what I get for marrying a robotics man. I did know what I was getting into. Oh well. Once our lab is done he won't have to leave me all day."

"Weren't you going to be a robotics scientist?" Talking didn't stop Roll from working, and she checked to see if the water was boiling while she pulled some black olives from the fridge. "I heard you even went to a university for a while."

"I was distracted by Alyosha." Kalinka tittered, as she dreamily stared into nowhere. "I do not know how I can get any studying done with such a handsome man around! I will leave the science to him, and he can leave the house to me. He is the man, after all. Ha, look at me, I am such a Stepford wife."

The water was ready, so Roll poured the noodles into the pot on the stove. "Well, soon you'll have a little child to run after. You definitely won't get bored! Ooh, we'll have to think of some baby names!"

"I know! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!" Kalinka laughed. "I just wish I didn't have to get so big. You have to help me when I want to lose the baby weight, okay?"

"Definitely! I'm not going anywhere!"

The sound of a telephone went off, and the kitchen's comm monitor (the only non-kitchen tech in the perfect room) started flashing. Kalinka casually went to answer it. The girl-bot had to wonder why Kalinka would want her ringtone to be so boring when most people had music play.

"Papa! Good morning! I thought you were in Moscow with Alyosha today."

Dr. Cossack looked frightful with worry. "Kalinka, are you alright? Who is with you?"

"Uh, just Roll and Skull Man. Is something wrong?"

"Stay there! Don't leave the house! I'm going to have Pharoah Man bring you back to my lab immediately where my security is tight. Pharoah Man is on his way there now!"

Kalinka got up from the table with a start. "What is going on?"

"Hopefully nothing, but I heard that there are robots going after all robotics scientists, and I'd rather have you where I can see you."

"I'm not going without Alyosha!" the young woman persisted. "If that is true, than he is in more danger!"

"Don't argue with me!" Cossack almost pleaded. "You're coming home now!"

"Um....." Roll meekly interrupted as she looked down the hall. "Where's Skull Man?"

Silence reigned, but only for a moment. The far wall was suddenly ripped open, and hurtling through it was the answer to Roll's question. Both human and robot girl screamed as an orange robot stepped through, his chest and arms glowing bright neon colors in square patches. It was none other than Algorhythm Man, followed closely behind by Hard Man and Gemini Man. All three grinned devilishly, eagerly relishing the fear of the girls. Dr. Cossack, still on the monitor behind them, paled.

"Mega Man! Get there now!"

Gemini Man split into two, and he swung round the girls and smashed in the monitor. His counterpart tried to get Kalinka, but instead had to settle for Roll as Skull Man pulled Kalinka into his shield's protection zone.

"Ah ha ha ha!" Algorhythm Man laughed, his eyes wide with mockery. "Give it up, Skull Man. We're outside of Mega Man's teleportation range, and you're surrounded. Do you honestly think you can destroy all of us while keeping poor, little Kalinka perfectly unharmed? Just let her go and you'll live and we can talk sports statistics. Now isn't that much better than dying?"

Skull Man's face, as always in its state of perpetual hatred, was more evil-looking now than it had ever been before. He glared death at the robots surrounding him, not even flinching when he came across Roll's frightened eyes. Turning to Algorhythm Man, Skull spoke in his rarely heard, deep, malevolent voice. It sounded as if it had come straight from the grave.

"_You lie_."

"Clever one." the glowing robot growled in return, not unamused. "So I suppose you'll just die -- AAAAAAAUUGGGH!"

Algorhythm Man collapsed, twitching as his computers tried to return to their normal functions. Computers tended to have those sorts of problems when hit by a fully charged Mega buster.

"Rock!" Roll cried out, joyfully.

In a moment, Roll was even more grateful for Gyro Man, who promptly severed Gemini 2's head and sent a barrage of his mini propellors (courtesy of Crystal Man's upgrades) to scare off the original. Hard Man, now without an ally, gulped as he realized that this left him with Skull Man. And Skull Man was not happy.

Algorhythm Man, on the other hand, seemed pleased to see Mega Man, even though he could barely get back on his shaky feet, and the blue bomber had his buster and super armor ready. "How delightful! I was so hoping I would run into you! I really wanted to chat. So, how about those Yankees? Think they'll win this year?"

"What are you trying to do here, Algorhythm Man?" the blue bomber demanded to know. "Why are you trying to kidnap Kalinka?"

"What a poor conversationalist you are. Not only are you interrupting, but war is such a boring topic. I like baseball better." the orange and neon robot said. "Come on, don't you like baseball? Or are you a Mets fan?"

Mega Man remembered the annoying way that this Cain-bot talked, and gave up on the conversation. But as he and Algorhythm Man exchanged shots, he remembered something else about the flashy enemy: Algorhythm Man was a hacker, and he had even managed to take down Mega Man's own communications when they had first met. Although Algorhythm Man was trying to hack into his systems again, his anti-virus programs thankfully didn't give way.

Skull Man was having a very easy time of it. And after he had pushed Kalinka and Roll under the table, he annihilated Hard Man. All he had to do was block the hard knuckle with his shield, and then blast the beer-keg robot into submission. Anyone who tried to hurt his charge was going to find themselves just like Hard Man -- in the end, nothing but rubble. As a finishing move, Skull Man sent his hand straight through Hard Man's face and into his brain, and he pulled out a perfectly intact CPU.

The blue bomber had been upgraded since then, so he wasn't worried...at first. From at least his buster pellets, Algorhythm Man had been upgraded too. The glowing cinders of multicolor plasma he shot out were bigger and more powerful than Mega Man had last seen. And they were more damaging too, especially to the walls of the Polovstiansky's home. Mega Man remembered in annoyance that he didn't have Algorhythm Man's weakness, the psycho pulse. He'd have to figure out something quick.

Two of Algorhythm Man's pellets hit Mega Man, striking his helmet and knocking him sideways, and for a moment he could see nothing. Quickly he jumped back up, only to find that instead of the Cain-bot, Gemini Man was there to take his place. Gemini Man was one of Mega's least favorite opponents; the guy could not stay still! Mega Man called out urgently to Skull Man as he tried to hit the flighty Wily-bot.

"Where's Algorhythm Man? Are the girls safe?"

"He's got Gyro Man!" Skull Man called back. "Kalinka and Roll are fine!"

"Stay with them!" Rock knew better than to send Skull Man after a robot and leave the girls unprotected. "I'll just have to hit this guy --- "

Actually he didn't. Dub, who had been cleaning a separate room when all of this had started, saw his opportunity to strike. He jumped in, using his spidery legs to trap Gemini Man. Though the robot tried to escape in any direction he could, one of Dub's eight legs was always in his way. Gemini Man made an attempt to jump over the body of Dub, but was caught by the leg and brought to the ground. Before he could do anything about it, Dub had him pinned securely.

"Good job, Dub!" Roll cheered. "Keep him there so that Rock can question him, okay?"

"No!" Gemini Man immediately protested in fear. "You can't do that! Anything but that!"

Whatever his reasons for objecting were, Mega Man wasn't there to question him. Instead the blue bomber had already gone after Algorhythm Man. The Cain-bot wasn't hard to find, especially because he kept leaving giant holes in the walls, and there was a trail of green propellers besides. Charging his weapon as he went, Mega Man ran through the now ruined home and headed for the would-be nursery. The place, besides being covered in dust from the plaster walls, had left pale green smears on both of the combatants.

Gyro Man was having a hard time. His armor wasn't nearly as strong as Mega Man's super armor, and Algorhythm Man's plasma bullets tore through the propeller. Only his flight kept him a challenge to the Cain-bot, that is until Algorhythm Man tore into his propellers. Not waiting for Gyro Man to be defeated, Mega Man unleashed the full power of his buster charge, following it with the echelon heatshock.

"GAAAHH!" Algorhythm Man snarled as he fell back, putting yet another hole in the nursery wall. And yet somehow the persistant robot managed to get back up. He looked up and sneered at his attacker, surprising both heroes. "Not yet, now, Mega Man! I still have other things to do!"

In a beam of shining light, Algorhythm Man teleported out. Much to his surprise, Mega Man found that the couldn't trace the teleportation signature. The Cain-bot had come back stronger than he first had been, for certain. And how could he have gotten up after getting hit by both his own powerful buster and the Cain-bot's most powerful weapon? The bomber wondered with fear what this might mean when it came to the other seven.

"Gyro Man, are you alright?"

"Not too bad..." the propeller robot answered with irritation. "That guy....now he was powerful. If I could just...urgh!"

"It's alright, you did your best!" Mega Man tried to cheer him up.

Gyro Man was scornful as he picked up the shattered remains of his flying device. "Shut up, Blue."

Mega Man didn't answer him. He knew how hard Gyro Man had been working in the past five years, how he had wanted to become powerful like the blue bomber. Mega didn't have the heart to tell him that this was unlikely without Dr. Light to work on him. So instead he just helped Gyro Man limp his way back to what wreckage remained of the kitchen, with everyone else.

"What did Algorhythm Man mean when he mentioned war?" Kalinka was asking the still captive Gemini Man. "What kind of war is it?"

Gemini Man didn't answer. He was hurriedly trying to get Dub's limbs out from around him, but failing. Every time he managed as much as an arm, the spider-bot's claws would snatch it down again. Gemini Man was starting to get frantic.

"Answer her question." Skull Man said, readying his buster.

Gemini Man finally responded, turning to the others in desperation. "Don't do that!! Stop it!"

"Stop what?" Mega Man asked.

The Wily-bot turned his head so quickly that Mega Man thought it might snap. "Stop asking me questions!!! I can't answer them! Now let me go! Or just kill me yourselves! Whichever you prefer!"

This wasn't at all like the Gemini Man they knew. Where was the overly confident, gleaming-smiled robot that didn't even seem to know how to be afraid? Mega Man went closer, despite the terrified gasps of those behind him.

"Please, tell us what's going on-"

"Why did you have to do this to me....WHY?" Gemini Man screamed at all present. "I could have died fighting!! _I hate you_! I hope-"

With a sickening twitch, the screaming stopped, replaced by an agonizing moan. Two more futile thrashings later, there was nothing left. Gemini Man's body fell limp, settling down as gravity tugged his head and limbs to the floor. Dub cautiously removed his tentacles and set Gemini Man down before going over to Roll's side.

"What...what was that?" Kalinka gasped as she stepped closer to Skull Man. "Why did he do that?"

"It must have been the same thing that got Aqua Man and Pirate Man..." Mega Man said. Even though he and Gemini Man had been enemies, he felt sorry for the duplicating robot. "Dr. Cain did that to them so that no information could get to us, I think."

"That's it, someone's got to save Alyosha!" Kalinka started to get angry. "I can't let anything happen to him!"

"I'm not going to leave you. It's just not safe." Mega Man tried to reassure her. "Pharoah Man will be here soon to come get you, and the security of the lab will protect him until I can get there. Dr. Cossack sent Ring Man out too. And I promise I'll go check on him just as soon as Pharoah Man picks you up. With these teleporters Crystal Bot invented, I'll be able to get there really fast! Um....Gyro Man, are you sure these things are legal?"

"There's no law against them."

"But you think this at least violates national treaties or something."

Gyro Man smirked as he limped over to find a chair to sit at, plunking down as he responded. "Heh, well, they did save Kalinka's life, so I wouldn't worry about that now."

As Mega Man went to work using the home's land line to contact his lab, Kalinka started to work on Gyro Man. She was no expert by far, but she could at least do something to make sure he was stable.

"Kalinka, are you sure that _you're_ alright?" Roll asked. "You look a little faint."

"Oh, what?" the Russian girl had been a little too distracted to pay much attention. Her answer was hasty. "Oh, well, I am fine. I just need to do something or I will go crazy!"

Roll looked up at Skull Man, who bore the same expression he always wore. And yet even she could tell that he was tense. The ghastly skeleton stood there beside Kalinka, more determined than ever to keep her safe.

The housekeeper-bot felt strange. She had never been that close to being attacked before. Even when Bass had torn up Dr. Light's lab those many years ago, she hadn't even been home. Never had danger been so near. Even so, she found herself wandering away from the others. She followed the path of broken walls back to the nursery. The nursery...they had worked so hard on it that morning, and it had taken Kalinka more energy than she was willing to admit. But now there was little left of the walls, much less the paint. And where the lovely window and windowseat had been, there was nothing more than shredded plaster, shattered glass, and a gaping hole that let in the autumn breeze.

Dub had followed her, like he always did. Standing by her side dutifully, he made a curious noise, his pink round eyes full of question.

"Oh Dub...it really is terrible!" Roll sounded like she was going to cry. "I hope everything gets solved really quick so that Kalinka can have her baby in peace!"

The green spider robot was never emotional, but he knew Roll well enough. He reached out an awkward leg and patted her on the head gently, making "tweeps" and "zorps" as he tried to pull her out of the wrecked room.

"Oh, you're right!" Roll smiled at her assistant. "Rock will settle everything! Just like he always does! Come on, let's go back to the kitchen and make Kalinka something to eat. In all this mess she hasn't eaten lunch yet!"

\\\\\\

- Oh Roll, you're so droll. You put a lot of trust in your brother.

Okay, two character profiles here too!

=====Skull Man

**"Now! Let's get ready to rumble!"**

Good point: Bone idle

Bad point: Bad taste

Like: Horror movie

Dislike: Beefcake

Japanese CD data:

Bad point: Bad taste

Like: Horror movie

Dislike: Fastidiousness

I remember thinking hard about Skull Man right when I was first writing Okkusenman, and I really wanted him to have a good part in it. I like how all robots are multi-dimensional, so I wanted to find something for Skull Man to do besides fight. And what do I find on the wiki? This robot is "only good for fighting". Great. I wanted to have a storyline where Skull Man feels all lost as he only rarely gets to fight, but then becomes an interpreter for Kalinka. Never found a place for it.

In any case, I made him a backstory. Pharoah Man and Drill Man were the first Cossack-bots built, and as Dr. Cossack's lab work expanded during MM3, he began production on Bright, Toad, Dust, and Dive Man. Noticing his robotic activity after he was again defeated, Dr. Wily decided to frame Dr. Cossack. Since Cossack had only envisioned six robot masters, Wily forced him to build Ring Man and Skull Man as well. After the events of MM4 and all the robot masters were reprogrammed for good, Dr. Cossack was ready to just deactivate Skull Man and send him to the robot museum. However, it was Pharoah Man who suggested that they keep him. Pharoah Man was used to having mummy-like mechaniloids serve him, so Skull Man's design never bothered him. Dr. Cossack decided to have Skull Man guard Kalinka, as he could think of no other way for him to be useful.

Skull Man doesn't have a lot of personality, but he is secretly very loyal to Cossack. He is a skilled fighter, and in fact is closer to Mega Man's skill level than Gyro Man could ever hope to be. He is very protective of Kalinka, and cares about her more than anyone else. As far as the other Team 4 robots go, he respects Pharoah Man and is mildly close friends with Ring Man. The others get along fine, but he rarely socializes with them. Or anyone else, really. A lot more goes on in his head than comes out.

=====Kalinka Cossack Polovstiansky

**"I am proud of you, Papa!"**

Good point: brave

Bad point: head in the clouds

Likes: Alyosha, jewelry

Dislikes: bossy people

Yeah, Kalinka didn't have a disc in Mega Man and Bass. I know all of you were expecting to see her get into some technological field, and that's what I expected from her at first. But the more I learned about her character, the more I learned how girly she is. As a kid she dreamed of being a princess. Her mother died when she was young and her father never remarried, so Kalinka was used to being the woman of the house from a very young age. Dr. Cossack often spoiled her. Though she does know some about biology and robotics science, Kalinka never paid it that much attention, and she never could focus on it. Having Crystal Bot teach her some was her last effort at trying to learn, but she gave that up. She likes talking politically, hosting events, and very much enjoys the notoriety of being Russia's leading scientist's daughter.

She went to the university mainly to figure out what to do with herself, but was instantly attracted to the brilliant Alyosha Polovstiansky, a bright young mind who was getting into robotics. Kalinka convinced her father to tutor him, and eventually the two fell in love and married. Kalinka's current goals are to have a good household, but she knows in the back of her head that eventually she will want to do more with herself.

Kalinka never could decide which of her father's robots was her favorite, but Skull Man is definitely a contender. She was frightened by him at first, but then he scared away a bully that was bothering her in school and they became almost inseperable. Kalinka loves to go shopping with him and freak out the general populace.

- I would like to point out that between my three Mega Man stories, Mega, Bass, and Proto Man have been encountering and destroying some of the less evasive robot masters, which is why you won't be seeing all of them die in this story. I hope I didn't kill off the robot masters you wanted to see.

- Star Man's space station orbits the earth at about the same speed as the moon. Since the super teleporter works in a straight line, usually no one can teleport there except for a fraction of a day.

- It was hard writing for Kalinka, because I don't know how Russian people talk colloquially, and my russian vocabulary is pretty much null. If I remember Hunt for Red October right, "russ-kee" is russian for "Russian". And that's all I know. So, yeah, please excuse me there. Know any russian words? I'd love to learn some. And do they eat pasta salad in Russia? Eh, I'll just say that's Roll used to American cooking. I think she'd just know Asian and American, maybe Mexican food.

- "Polovstiansky" comes from the name of the only opera song I like, the Polovtsian dances. It's from Prince Igor. But this chapter's sad music is a different classical piece: Vivaldi's first winter concerto. www. --- youtube .com ---- /watch?v=h3aw31PPKXU

- The robot masters developed a habit of calling Mega Man "Blue" instead of by his name, as saying "Mega Man" in front of Wily tended to infuriate the mad scientist. Team 5 still calls him this often, more or less out of habit.


	5. Three Heroes

Proto Man had changed little in the past five years. He was still his reticent, lonely self, and if he had changed, it was to be even more estranged from the ones that loved him than before. Roll, despite the fact that she too saw little of him, was the one he spoke to the most, and that was mostly because Blues felt he should at least try to get to know his sister. Though he could never have expressed it in words, Proto Man knew the reason why he was still so introverted. It was a darkness to come, one he had expected for many years. Now that Dr. Light was dead, so too fell robotic ethics. Dr. Light was their upholder, their defender, and the one that had kept them from becoming the tool of a demented mind. But robots were the subjects of humans, Proto Man thought dryly to himself, so however good or bad they were would depend on their creator.

And now the most innocent of technicians was dead.

But Proto Man had to balance himself. The most guilty of all technicians was also dead. Dr. Wily had wanted nothing more than to make the world sufffer for "not recognising his genius", but he too was erased by his mortality. Who then was left to be either good or bad?

Blues, as his own name suggested, had never been an optimist. For the past five years he had been watching and waiting for some sign of something to go wrong. And that was one of the reasons he was in Japan's Miyamoto Mechanics at the time. But now that all of these new incidents had made police everywhere more cautious. There would be less need for him to watch over the factory workers in any case. He knew what had happened to Gravity Man and Dr. Imahara. And though he didn't know the details, he knew that Kalinka had been targeted. And that made him ill.

From the service platform far above the factory floor, Proto Man could see everything. He gave a cautious eye to the many people below. Humans in met-armor hats monitored the robots (most of those being mechaniloid) as they worked at various noisy and complicated machinery. At any given day Miyomoto Mechanics produced mechaniloids, though when they had one of the few specialists in sentient robot science, those specialists would be allowed to use parts of the factory for their own machines. Despite the growing demand for the upper level robots, the specialists and thus the production remained low. It wasn't an easy field.

Imahara had been one of those scientists, and was Proto Man's main reason for visiting Miyamoto in the first place. But he had found nothing. Nothing that made any sense with the attack, in any case. Dr. Imahara had been killed without anyone even seeming to care about his work itself. What did that mean?

The factory would be crowded with more police than Proto Man cared to bother with, and while Kalinka had her father's lab and robots to protect her, Proto Man was not comfortable letting it go without at least taking a look. So he began to leave, carefully making his way out as noiselessly as possible. He wasn't worried about being caught. Evading prying eyes was like breathing to him, so it was easy to spot potential hiding places if anyone looked up. Or hiding places where someone else might be hiding.

A hunk of metal hit the proto shield. It fell from the high perch onto the floor, alerting the people below.

"Get out of here!" Proto Man shouted, still focused on Junk Man before him. "Evacuate the factory now!"

Proto Man didn't look to see if anyone listened to him, but he could tell from the screams that the grinning Junk Man was not the only bogey in the place. Blues allowed his lips a slight smirk. If they were coming to destroy the factory or someone in it, it was bad luck that they had come when he was there.

"Hey, Blues. How'ya doing?" Junk Man said in devilish tones. "I'm actually glad to see you. I was hoping one of the Light brothers would be here, so that I can show his junked up remains to the other!!"

Dodging a wave of the junk, Proto Man ran forward, and at the last minute flipped completely over Junk Man's head, clinging to Junk Man's back. He was on the inside of the haphazard robot's shield, and Junk Man struggled to pull Proto Man off, reaching back. But to no avail. Proto Man pulled back on the Wily-bot's neck, then jumped and swung Junk Man's body forward and off of the scaffolding. They landed with a crash on the floor, the shielding of Junk Man, as well as several of his parts, crumpling by the impact. Proto Man, just to be safe, shot a buster pellet into the back of his head.

_Good...now where are the rest of them?_

The humans and worker-bots seemed to be fleeing from behind him, Proto Man turned around, only to see something that disturbed him greatly. While the only outward sign of this was a small twitch of the lips, somehow Hornet Man got the idea and thought it was very funny. And with Hornet Man were Centaur Man, Spark Man, Magnet Man, and Cloud Man, each looking ready for a fight.

"You were a Light-bot." Proto Man's voice was filled with contempt as he addressed the insectoid. "You were shown mercy once, and it won't happen a second time. But Rock won't want me to harm you, so this is your one chance to walk away. You should take it."

"Oh no," Hornet Man objected in what seemed like a more fond tone. "This is how it should be. The world as you know it is ending, Proto Man. All the things you took for granted, gone. All the things and the people you love, gone. But there's a silver lining: so are all the things you hate! Come on, Proto Man, you knew this was coming! Welcome to the last of robotics' 'golden era', where humanity will all wake up from this dream!"

Hornet Man showed off his gleaming teeth, and the dark look in his eyes was hardly becoming of someone invented by Dr. Light. But it didn't faze Proto Man, who at most felt a tinge of regret for his brother's sake. But only a tinge. It wasn't near enough to stop Proto Man from turning Hornet Man into a pile of rubble, along with his Wily-bot companions.

"Oh look!" Magnet Man snickered and pointed. "The little obsolete proto-boy thinks he can beat us!"

The rest joined in the laughter, and were still grinning as Blues ran faster and faster towards them, blaster at the ready. Dodging every hornet, magnet beam, and lightning strike, the red fighter-bot finally reached them, then jumped clear overhead. As they turned around to see where he had landed, they saw -- nothing. The Light-bot had disappeared without a trace, and without so much as firing a shot at any of them.

"Why, he's scuttled off!" Centaur Man exclaimed. "I never took Proto Man for a coward."

"Look lively!" Cloud Man pointed at the factory wall which they had just broken through. "Here comes the cavalry!"

He was referring to the Japanese guards that had just come in, each of them in armor and bearing various plasma weaponry. And from a distant corner of the factory, the corners of Proto Man's mouth went up slightly. The guard could handle the Wily-bots. After all, they weren't the main priority. They were the distraction from the little teal thing that was crawling about and trying to mess with something over in the side offices. Proto Man snuck in to investigate.

An awkward robot that couldn't have been more than three feet tall was using its little claws to dig through the office files. Though occasional hissing laughter, like the sound of wheels in need of grease, escaped from the little spiky robot's gaping mouth, it appeared upset.

"Gah! Who uses paper files these days?" the creature scoffed, before his rusty chortle sounded again. "I'll find it!"

"Find what?"

The creature snapped around, then brought its metal paw together as surprise turned to amusement. "Ah you, I know you. You're Proto Man. Hmph, those idiots were supposed to distract everyone...but no matter. In any case," the large, crazy eyes of the robot narrowed. "Are you sure you should be here right now?"

"I know who you are as well." Proto Man ignored the question. "You're Demi. The last I heard, you were crippled by a virus."

The thing laughed harder. "Don't change the subject. Now, one of the things I know about you is that you are a good friend of Dr. Cossack, or rather, his little daughter. You were the one to rescue the cute girl when she was young. Wouldn't it be a pity if something happened to her now and spoiled your heroics, right?"

Blues was unfazed. "You're lying."

"Oh, I'm _lying_. I'm only your enemy. Don't I know my own plans? Little Kalinka is currently going to her father's lab. Now, what do you think she will find there, hm?"

Proto Man forced himself to keep his cool. Demi was trying to distract him, and he could see that the little robot was getting impatient. His little glances to the office's window where the Wily-bots held the guards at bay (for the moment) gave him away.

"Well, are you just going to stand there?" Demi asked. "Aren't you worried that Kalinka is in danger? Or are you really going to let her die just for the sake of a few pieces of paper?"

What Proto Man wondered about was why Demi would bother threatening her. Couldn't he simply fight and be done with it? Or did he not think he could win? Proto Man smiled, then in an instant the protoshield smacked the little teal robot in the face, then he had the wriggling robot by the neck. It's little claws tore its way out of the Light-bot's grip, but not before Proto Man had brought him to the main workfloor and yelled out --

"SO YOU'RE THE ONE THAT MURDERED DR. IMAHARA!!!"

Immediately the Japanese guard were alerted to the little robot, and Demi only had enough time to scowl dangerously at Proto Man before having to dodge the constant plasma bullets aimed at him. Proto Man was glad that most of Japan trusted him.

Blues looked back at the office. The sign on the door was one of those temporary ones, as it was probably used by the sentient robot specialists. And of course the last one that had been in Miyamoto Mechanics was Dr. Imahara. Demi had wanted one of his files. Three of the drawers and desk had already been rummaged through, so Proto Man quickly swept up the rest in the trash bin, wishing he had something better to hold it in until he could get a good look at what all of it was.

But he had his priorities. If Kalinka was in danger, he had to help. She was not going to be hurt if he had anything to do with it.

-------

Mega Man was relieved to be home. He knew that all robotics facilities would be on high alert and protected by soldiers, but he would have to leave the next time a robot master struck. But for now he could do a maintanence check and get an update on the situation. Intent on doing more research on the next possible target for the Wily robots, Mega Man let Gyro Man explain what had happened at Kalinka's home. He was bound to exaggerate his own role in the fight, but that didn't bother Mega Man much. He didn't mind letting Gyro Man hog the spotlight. So the propeller-bot happily chatted with his technician as he sat for repairs on the repair table.

"You're really lucky, Gyro-kun." Crystal Bot exclaimed as she unscrewed more of his dented armor. "Most of this damage is just armor and the rest of it is just stuff that won't take that long to fix."

"Lucky, nothing. It's pure skill!"

Mega tried to hide his smile. "So Auto, can you scan what's on Hard Man's CPU?"

Auto shook his head. "Not right now. I should have been more careful, but whatever was left on Flame Man's CPU was just a virus. It took out our safe computer, so I'll have to put together something new from storage so that I don't have to plug something possibly dangerous into our main computer. I don't think Hard Man's CPU will be virus-free, to make a guess."

"Darn." Mega Man complained. "It just looks like I'm going to have to figure this out myself...hey, where's Bass?"

"He got impatient. He said that Dr. Cossack ordered him to go to Russia, and that he has to obey because Dr. Cossack still owns him."

Somehow Mega Man doubted that Bass would have waited for an order. Patience is a virtue, but not to Bass. "Um....wasn't he still under investigation?"

"I think so. But well, if Bass is set on something, I can't stop him!" Auto announced with some indifference, shrugging. "He really wants to help, so I don't think we need to worry."

"Me neither!" the blue bomber cheered. "I just hope he doesn't get into too much trouble with the law!"

"Aaaugh!"

Everyone in the lab started as Gyro Man began glitching, holding his head as if it would split apart at any moment. His screams of terror intensified along with his glitching, and his eyes began to bulge. Falling to the floor, he continued to shout in pain.

"Quick! Get him to the computer!" Mega Man exclaimed.

"It's not safe!" Auto said with horror as he lifted his hands over his shocked face. "Whatever's doing this could get on the mainframe!"

Without a word, Crystal Bot forced her team member into a sitting position, then sat down in front of him and pulled a cord out of her neck to plug into his zip drive. Once she was connected to his computer brain, Gyro Man's screaming ceased, but his eyes remained blank. Finally, Crystal Bot sighed and severed the connection. The cord retracted back underneath her poly-titanuloid skin. Her unfortunate team member continued to sit there, staring at nothing.

"Whatever's on there is like a version of the data kill virus, except it doesn't quite destroy his more mechanical functions." Crystal Bot said as she stood up. "But I can tell whoever programmed it was the same one who programmed whatever erased Splash Woman's and Gravity Man's memories. But there's more than that. Some of the viruses weren't designed to destroy Gyro Man, because robots don't have the same data processors as normal computers, so they didn't activate."

"But why did that one virus get him now?" Auto wondered. "Unless...unless he looked like he was having trouble and Dr. Cain wanted us to plug him into our computer for repairs..."

"I've got it!" Mega Man said. "I think Dr. Cain wanted us to find something on Flame Man's CPU, because that something was the virus that would shut down our safe computer! And then if we wanted to save Gyro Man, we'd end up with the other viruses on our computer! It was sabotage! But Crystal, are you okay? It wasn't safe for you to link up to him."

The girl-bot narrowed her eyes at Mega Man. "We're Team 5, Rock. We watch out for each other even if it's risky." Lecture over, her tone relaxed. "Well, I was safe anyway. Those viruses couldn't even touch me. I don't know why."

"I do!" Auto piped up. "Your Mega Man X parts, of course! No common virus could hurt him!"

"That means Mega Man X is safe from Dr. Cain?"

"Yep!"

"Eeee!" Crystal Bot squealed. "That means I can study the viruses safely! Auto-kun, you and me have to cure the data-kill virus!"

"Roger!" Auto saluted, and the girl-bot giggled.

As happy as he was that both Crystal Bot and Mega Man X would be safe, Rock's exhuberance dissipated. Gyro Man was still there, sitting on the floor and completely inoperative.

"But what about Gyro Man? Can he be fixed?"

"His current mind is a goner." Crystal Bot said as she approached her green relative. "But he has a mind storage drive, like the one I gave you for Christmas a long time ago, Rock. All I have to do is get it back from the space station and...rebuild...him...."

Her blithe speech grinded to a halt as one of her trembling hands reached down into Gyro Man's armor. She pulled a green and white zip drive out, delicately turning it over into her hands. The badly crumbled casing of the drive revealed broken bits of computer board, as if some blow from a robot fist had smashed into it. Crystal Bot burst into glitching, dropping the defunct drive to the floor and burying her face in her hands.

"Why....why did you have to take it with you?!!"

As Crystal Bot sobbed over her friend, Mega Man shuddered, reaching down into his own armor. He'd always kept his mind storage drive with him, just in case he needed to clear his mind of a virus during battle. His drive, however, was perfectly intact, and Rock shuddered to think that one wrong plasma burst could have destroyed his emergency back up. But as he put it back into his armor, he noticed Crystal looking at him, her expression pinched by grief....and not a little anger.

He knew what was wrong. Her eyes said it all.

_How dare you come back virtually unharmed when he is dead._

"You...you need to be checked..." None of the harsh emotions left Crystal Bot's face as she finally spoke, but she seemed to at least be trying to force down her bitterness. "I'm the only safe computer left, so hold still."

Crystal got up and plugged into Mega Man's hard drive, scanning it for errors. After a minute of trying not to look into the blue bomber's eyes, the tech-bot sighed.

"Nothing, you're fine. According to my scans, Algorhythm Man tried to hack into you and leave the virus. Trouble is, it was taking way too long, and you probably could have destroyed him before he finished. So he hacked into someone he thought he could get into."

Crystal Bot turned away from the others, sitting helplessly next to her dead companion. After a moment, she shut him down. There was no point.

Mega Man's heart broke for her. Carefully the blue robot knelt down beside her, trying to comfort her despite her resistance.

"Crystal Bot," he began. "Please don't grieve too much. Gyro Man died a hero. Now you know a clear way of curing the data kill virus, and we can immunize more robots before it spreads. He did a good job, and he saved Kalinka."

Sonata glitched once, but Mega could tell that his words did have some affect on the girl-bot. She glanced at him sideways almost looking like she would thank him. But she didn't.

"Hey Rock, Gyro Man told me that before you guys got there, Skull Man was fighting Algorhythm Man."

Mega Man got the implications immediately. "Oh no, that means.....Dr. Cossack!"

And he teleported out.

-----

"Ring Man, is everything on the back ups discs yet?" Alyosha Polovstiansky asked his father-in-law's robot.

"Not yet." Ring Man inserted another disc into the laboratory's computer. "I've just got one more computer to go. But after that we really should be going to Dr. Cossack's lab."

"I know, I know." Alyosha ran his hands through his thick, deep brown hair with anxiety. "I wish my lab was ready so that I wouldn't have to depend on him. I'm the one that should be protecting Kalinka."

"He does have Pharoah Man and that mechaniloid army." Ring Man replied as he continued to push more buttons on the console.

"Yes, yes. Well, I'm going out for a smoke, so let me know when you're finished here. Kalinka is on the way back to her father's, right?"

"I'd be surprised if she wasn't there now."

"Good."

With that, Alyosha went outside on the balcony of the three story building, his sharp blue eyes gazing over the Moscow landscape from his vantage point. This laboratory was a government run one, one that Alyosha was expected to use to fufill a contract with the Russian government. They were none too pleased to hear that his overprotective father-in-law wanted him to retreat to their lab, but as Dr. Cossack was the greatest Russian scientist mind, they tended to let him get what he wanted. And so that was where the young man would be going to reunite with his pregnant wife. She did want him to stop smoking before the baby arrived, but Alyosha figured that he would get one last smoke in before she got his cigarettes from him. He fished in his lab coat pocket for his lighter.

Ring Man waited just long enough for the doors to close. Then, though he had no mouth, his eyes smiled, and he laughed a quiet laugh that didn't seem altogether innocent. Ring Man went back to the computers, hastily pushing buttons and glancing nervously over at the door to see if Dr. Polovstiansky would return. But it he was going to glance nervously, he sure picked the wrong direction to look.

Alyosha heard the noisy clashing from outside. He dropped his cigarette and went for the door, only to see Bass holding Ring Man against the wall with a buster in his face.

"What are you doing?!"

"This guy was reformatting your computer!" Bass snarkily snapped back, never removing his gaze from Ring Man.

"No I wasn't! I was backing up the files!"

"Liar! You've got a virus! Don't pretend that you're still the normal Ring Man!"

Alyosha, short of his nicotine, was definitely out of patience. He tugged uselessly at Bass' arm as he said, "Let him go! You don't know what you're talking about. He was just going to back up my files and then we were going to Dr. Cossack's. You're out of your mind!"

"Why don't you check the computers and see what he was doing, then?"

Frustrated, Dr. Polovstiansky went over to the computers to do just that. But the large wall of servers and panels and monitors seemed just as it had been before. Moreover, one of the screens revealed that the discs would be finished initializing in thirty-three seconds. Alyosha folded his arms and '_ahem_'ed loudly. Bass impatiently stuffed Ring Man under his arm so that he could turn and look.

"Erg..." Bass almost facepalmed when he saw the screen. "Okay, that's not right, that's a fake -- this guy's not right! He was laughing! Cossack-bots never laugh! "

Alyosha rubbed his wrinkled brow, wishing he'd had more time for his cigarettes as he walked closer to the continually defensive dark robot. Before Bass knew it, Alyosha had a plasma gun firmly planted under his chin.

"I'll admit that I never liked you." Alyosha said, his expression filled with contempt. "And I don't know why anyone bothered to trust you. But that robot is a family robot from Russia's greatest mind. So you'll let him go, and if you have a problem with him, you can discuss it with Dr. Cossack. Or you can get shot. Pick now."

Forte's hateful, toothy grimace wasn't exactly convincing Dr. Polovstiansky to have a different opinion.

"I'm trying to save your stupid life! They're after robotics guys now!"

He pushed the gun further into Bass' chin, and Bass almost spat in rage. But he did drop Ring Man, who crawled off and got up on his own. Dr. Polovstiansky backed away, cautiously keeping the pistol aimed at an increasingly infuriated Forte. He only lowered his weapon once Ring Man pulled him back and got between him and Bass.

"Let's go, Ring Man." Dr. Polovstiansky sent a sneering grin at Bass. "And you, go do something useful with yourself."

"Oh, go easy on him." Ring Man said. "After all, I don't need to hide it anymore -- he _is_ right."

A yellow ring flew through the air and sliced into Alyosha's gut before he could even look surprised. Ring Man darted away, pausing just once in a mocking salute to Bass before he jumped out of the window. Though everything inside Bass told him to go after the robot master, Bass held himself back and forced himself to attend to the bleeding and squirming Alyosha, who every second was teaching Bass a new Russian curse word.

"Moron, don't pull it out! Let the hospital do that!" Bass snapped as Alyosha reached a hand for the ring still sticking out of his midsection. "You should've listened to me in the first place! Now hold still!"

Frantic, Bass realized that there was no time to wait on an ambulance. But this was the city, and the hospital couldn't be too far away. As gently as he could (and as a yelp from Alyosha told him, not gently at all), Bass scooped up the unfortunate human and summoned Treble.

"What about...my research?" Alyosha gasped, spitting blood as he spoke.

Bass winced in disgust as more of the red liquid hit his armor. "It's all gone now, so just shut up."

Treble was quick to show up, and was already converted to Treble jet so all Bass had to do was step on. As they flew Bass swore to himself to relieve Ring Man's shoulders of their head. He tried his hardest to focus his thoughts on revenge; Alyosha had gone into shock, and was whimpering for Kalinka. Bass shuddered; he was glad that hospitals had decontamination showers for robots. Both he and Treble were going to need it if the bleeding kept on.

Thinking of getting clean was a lot easier to think of than what would happen if Alyosha didn't make it.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

=====Alyosha Polovstiansky

**"Make sure you fix it correctly."**

Good point: intelligent

Bad point: hard headed

Likes: Kalinka, robotics

Dislikes: Dr. Wily

Alyosha's first name comes from the book A Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, from Alyosha the Baptist. I kinda regret giving him that name, because Alyosha the Baptist was adorable and this Alyosha can be a jerk when under pressure. Alyosha has lived in Moscow most of his life, and is the oldest of five siblings, with one brother and three sisters. From a young age he and his brother have had to work to bring in extra money, as a downturn in the Russian economy hit his family pretty hard. He was always a hard worker, and from his youth admired Dr. Cossack. He paid his own way through college, where he became a robotics scientist who made mechaniloids.

His work made him one of the few noticed by Dr. Cossack for studies in sentient robotics, and he was Cossack's number one student. Shortly afterwards he met Kalinka, and it was over a month before he found out that the two were related. Kalinka often teases him that he married her just to work with her father, but both of them know that Kalinka was the one that initiated their relationship. Alyosha loved her strength, and was quite happy with the fact that she could marry someone who had the time-consuming job of being a robotics scientist.

As a rationalist, Alyosha has always hated Dr. Wily, as his schemes "make people unnecessarily afraid of robots" and endanger "human progress". And he thinks that the goofy nature of Wily's creations has created the expectation that all robots be equally awkward. Though, on the same token, Alyosha was never a huge fan of Dr. Light. While he admired Light's brilliance, he always considered Light something of a naiive old codger, as Light's views were highly idealistic and spoke of a deep respect for robots. Polovstiansky, however, sees robots as merely useful tools or means by which to progress human understanding. Undue emotional attachment to robots has always made him nervous. Polovstiansky operates under the belief that too much intelligence can make a person at least a little nuts. This isn't very unique, as most of his Russian collegues share similar sentiments about getting too attached to artificial beings.

- There are weapons for humans that protect them from robots. Some are guns or cannons, some are tasers, and some are lockdown shields that numb but don't hurt robots.

- Bah, I'm so glad I scrapped the soundtrack thing. I have no clue what I would have put up for this chapter. But I guess since I want to share some of the stuff I listen to anyway, I'll share a more active song for a more active chapter: www. youtube .com /watch?v=0brhmQ3WSK4 This song is one of my absolute favorites, Are You Ready to Move? by P.W.M. It's for the hardcore only.


	6. Overwhelmed

Dr. Cossack scratched his head again. This was the fifth time he'd scanned Skull Man, and he still couldn't figure out what the problem was. Skull Man had come home to the lab, only to have a sudden and almost complete systems shut down. He could activate, but that was it. He just sat motionlessly as Dr. Cossack and Bright Man tried their hardest to get him operational again. That was why he was sitting at his computer rapidly pressing the keys until he felt his fingers would fall off.

But that wasn't the thing that bothered the Russian scientist the most. Right now his work fervor was being fueled by his worry. Kalinka hadn't come home yet. She absolutely refused to go anywhere without first picking up her husband, so Dr. Cossack let her go, only if she would take Pharoah Man and a platoon of his mummy mechaniloids along. Cossack wondered if he was too possessive of her only briefly before tossing the thought aside. She was his only child, and her life was in danger. There was no being too possessive, not now.

"It's no use, Doctor." Bright Man shook his head sadly. "All of his personality AI is gone."

Dr. Cossack leaned his head in his hands, grunting in acknowledgement. He had known that for the past ten minutes, but had hoped that Bright Man would catch something he missed. "I have to rebuild him then...hmph. For now, contact Pharoah Man and see how Kalinka is doing."

Bright Man had to grin at that one. "I'd like to point out that it's been only ten minutes since you last called the boss, and Kalinka was just fine then. She's probably not even at Moscow yet. Give her some time before you worry. Mega Man already checked on Alyosha, and he said that Ring Man is with him. Everyone's safe, and they'll all be back soon enough."

"Anything can happen in ten minutes, you know." Cossack got up from the table and stared despondantly at his skull creation. "Poor Skull Man. You always were a loyal robot, and now this. Kalinka will be so disappointed. Bright Man, take him to the lab table and start removing his brain hardware."

"I'll get on it, Doctor."

Bright Man was getting worried about his master. Though Cossack had kept his looks longer than most did, he was starting to look his age for once. And now that there was a threat from the Wily-bots, his creator was even more troubled about the future. The bright robot wished he could somehow make his creator stop worrying, but with his daughter, son-in-law and future grandchild in danger, Cossack always felt like he had to do something. He couldn't trust that somehow things would turn out. But his creation was more optimistic. Mega Man would settle everything, just like he always did!

As Bright Man hauled his electronic brother over his shoulder, a blue streak zipped down to the floor of the lab. Mega Man materialized, his buster hand already armed and his most determined look was on his face. No one had ever bothered to tell him that his determined look was the most sweet and non-intimidating expression they had ever seen, and from the way Dr. Cossack was biting his lip to keep from smiling, it was going to remain a secret from the blue bomber.

"Dr. Cossack! You're alright?" Mega Man's sudden exclamation made Dr. Cossack jump up. "Oh, good! I was worried for a second that you plugged Skull Man into your computer."

"Uh, I did..."

Mega Man's face changed into one of horror.

"I do have a safe computer, Mega. If there's anything bad on Skull Man's CPU, it won't hurt my works."

"Oh!" Though he had no heart, Mega Man lifted a hand as if covering it anyway. "Whew! So your main network is fine? We had a problem. It turns out that Gyro Man had a pretty devastating virus. He...didn't make it. We think it came from Algorhythm Man, so I came to check on Skull Man. How....oh no!"

Mega Man saw Cossack's lab-bot standing over Skull Man's fallen form, and he ran to the table, sorrowful. "Poor Skull Man...is he going to be okay?"

"He's going to have to start everything over, including his memories," Bright Man explained. "But in the end he'll be alright, once we get his back ups installed. What sort of virus was it anyway?"

"It was supposed to be a lot like what killed Gravity Man. Except I think Dr. Cain had an ulterior motive: he wanted us to plug Gyro Man into our computers to have our computers and security compromised." Mega Man shuddered as he answered. "But Auto is working on the cure for the virus now."

"Wait, wait," Dr. Cossack was starting to get suspicious. "Why in the world would Dr. Cain practically announce this virus when he could do something more devastating with it? Now that you know about it, you can cure it. Why wouldn't he use it on as many robots as he can before you find out?"

"The solution is simple!" Drill Man came out from nowhere, and for a moment Mega Man aimed his buster in surprise. "Obviously Dr. Cain doesn't mind you knowing because he's already got his plans in place!"

"Oh, Drill Man!" Mega Man lowered his buster. "You scared me!"

"I scared you? The great Mega Man?" Drill Man's buzzing laughter shocked everyone. "Wow, now I'm really proud of myself! It makes me feel a little less bad about THIS!"

And Drill Man fired, not at the blue bomber, but his own creator. Fortunately, the blow never struck. Not only did Mega Man block the shot, but Bright Man used his flash stopper to freeze Drill Man in place, throwing off his aim. His fired drills ended up only crashing harmlessly into a wall.

"Drill Man, what are you doing?!"

The red robot couldn't look into his master's eyes. Drill Man tried to cackle evilly, but it only came out as whimpering, nervous laughter. "Good j-job, my old master, but I am a part of a new army now! M-maybe you can stop me, but can you stop all of _them_? Ha...ha ha...."

Drill Man winced, hanging his head. His uncertain laughter continued, but at the same time, he shook with a powerful emotional glitch. He finally managed to lift his eyes to his creator, and no one saw confidence. Instead, all they could see was desperation, a begging for help. But the traitorous robot's eyes tightened, and his violent words went on.

"What? You're not even going to look at your computers and see how doomed you are? That's...funny, yes...funny..." Drill Man said, looking like he was about to cry.

Mikhail didn't hesitate. He quickly signalled for Bright Man to stay next to Drill Man, then went to the computer. Mega Man stayed near him, warily eyeing the treacherous robot. From his hunched position over his computer's controls, Cossack gasped.

"We're surrounded! How did these robots get here? Mega Man!"

"Right!"

Mega Man teleported out to go deal with the threat. Bright Man shut down Drill Man and put him on the repair table next to Skull Man's, wondering what to do next. But for the moment, the safe computer was working, so he decided to scan what he could.

"Good." Dr. Cossack immediately noticed what Bright Man was doing. "See if he knows anything that these Wily-bots are planning. I'm going to check and see what Drill Man might have done to the rest of my computers....oh no..."

The Russian doctor had just opened the door to the next hall of his laboratory. Shredded computer bits, biological specimen, wires, and now unidentifyable metal covered the floor, all smothered in a fair dosage of formaldehyde. Mikhail let out a shaky moan as he sank to his knees, staring at the mess that all of his life's work had now become.

"Doctor...?" From his angle, Bright Man couldn't see what was going on. "What is it?"

The muscles on Mikhail's face tightened, and he began to tremble in anger. Returning to his feet, Dr. Cossack straightened. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

"Bright Man, let the computer find whatever it can on Drill Man's hard drive on its own. Contact Pharoah Man and tell him not to bring Kalinka back here, and keep her safe until he recieves further instructions. Then find whichever of our robots that you can and scan them. Most of them should be fine...if there's an army outside it's because they know that they haven't be able to do what they want through tricks."

"What are you going to do?"

Dr. Cossack turned back to his robot, more confident and youthful than Bright Man had ever seen him.

"I'm going to _win_."

"Whooo!" Blizzard Man exclaimed as he skied down the hill straight to Cossack's lab. "I haven't had this much fun since I left Canada! This place has great slopes!"

"Frost Man likes it too!" The giant robot yelled as Blizzard Man whooshed by. He smashed three of Pharoah Man's mechaniloids before adding. "I will make many popsicles out of these mummies! I love popsicles! Do you want one, 'Mitty?"

"_Why_ was I grouped with these imbeciles? And on our most important battle to date!" Emit Man scornfully remarked, not caring in the slightest that they could hear him. "Blizzard Man! Stop goofing off and get the sniper joes in position! And Frost Man, hurry up and get rid of their mechaniloids! If we breach the laboratory wall we'll be able to get into the lab and get Dr. Cossack! Get to work!"

"'Mitty, you are no fun!" Frost Man firmly proclaimed as he froze another mummira in its tracks. "I do not like you!"

"I don't care!"

"Shut up down there!" Chill Man shouted from his position on top of the hill. "I've got the army ready, so either get us into that lab or get out of the way!"

"Who planned this battle?" Emit Man groaned. "But I've got to make the best of it!"

Jumping into the air, Emit Man gathered the shrapnel of Cossack's already defeated mechaniloids around him and began shooting his blade bombs out at the unnecessarily large door of Dr. Cossack's lab. The heavy metal panels were padlocked shut, several waves of little blades hit and stuck their way into them. The lights on the blades winked, then seconds later a huge explosion rocked the hill. As the smoke cleared, the heavy doors were still there, but broken and starting to come off of their hinges.

"Frost Man! Come pull off these doors!"

The robot in question wasn't paying that much attention. He just kept looking back and forth into the snow.

"Blizz Man? Blizz Man?! Where are -- Oh! I will help you!"

Reaching one hand into a snowpile formed by the explosion, Frost Man pulled out the Canadian robot and put his skis back onto more firm snow.

"Thanks, Frost Man!"

"You're welcome!"

"If you two are finished, we do have a battle to commence!"

The two Wily-bots looked at each other and shrugged. Emit Man was in charge, so they had to listen, much to their chagrin. Finding a piece of metal to slide down on, Chill Man joined the others, followed along by a field of sniper joes and bubble bats. A massive field of plasma pellets smacked against the mummiras, drawing fire away from Emit Man and the cold robots. But the Wily-bots didn't have the advantage for long. Huge auto-cannons came out from moving panels on the walls, and groups of sniper joes were getting pelted away all at once. And that was what all of the cold robot masters were for. While Frost Man went to work on the doors, Chill Man and Blizzard Man started freezing the auto cannons, and even Emit Man joined in to blow a few up.

So in other words, nobody noticed the blue streak falling from the sky. Chill Man was the first to get the blast of the crafty Mega Man's fully charged mega buster, and caught off guard, he was finished by an auto cannon.

"We've got company!" Blizzard Man yelled out to the others.

"I do not like Mega Man!" Frost Man complained. "He is not supposed to be here!"

"Clear out, idiots! I'll handle this one! You just get those auto cannons down and that door open!" Emit Man jumped in front of Mega Man, and the surge of sniper joes went around him. "So, Mega Man, you finally arrive! I've so looked forward to the challenge of fighting you...that is, if you are up to it!"

"I won't let you do this!" the blue bomber returned, shooting his buster at the bubble bats overhead as he spoke. "Emit Man, think it over! What will you gain from destroying good scientists?"

"It is what the master wants. The master made us better, stronger." Emit Man was completely matter-of-fact, and as if to demonstrate this power, he lifted into the air, hovering there as his shield of metal swirled around him threateningly. "And what are you but an archaic piece of blue metal? Now that your beloved creator is gone, do you really have what it takes to destroy us and stop my master's plans?"

"I will always fight for justice!" Mega Man fired at Emit Man, who allowed the plasma bursts to hit his flying junk shield so that Rock could see that they would have little effect on him. "Dr. Light made me the way that I am so that I could fight you as long as it takes for peace!"

"Oh? Is that why your creator built the precious Mega Man X? Wasn't it to replace you? Face it, Mega Man. You're old, obsolete. Old news and over with."

This bit of mockery stunned Mega Man. How in the world did any of the Cain-bots find out about Mega Man X? X had been kept a secret, and no one outside of Light Laboratories had ever been told about him. The government, the UN, and even Dr. Cossack knew nothing about the new robot. There was only one way that Emit Man could have found out --

"Don't worry, Mega Man! I'm here to help! Don't you listen to that loser!"

"Ring Man!"

The red and yellow Cossack-bot stood next to Mega Man, saluting cheerfully. "Let's end this together!"

"Right! You should get Frost Man -- gaaah!"

From the crazy look in his eyes, Ring Man made it very clear that he was going to do no such thing. Of course, the fact that he had planted some sort of de-stabilizer on Mega Man made it even more obvious. Rock felt all of his systems twitching, and his attempt to walk only brought him to the ground. His anti-virus fought against the invasion, but there was no way he could break free before someone destroyed him. Ring Man backed away, and even as electrical distortion clouded his view, Mega Man could still see the evil, sneering grin of Emit Man as he readied his bomb blades. He fired.

And then everything went black.

Or not completely black. A little light was still shining out at him. It took Mega Man a little bit to realize that he was behind some sort of blockade...the protoshield! As if distantly, Mega Man heard a burst. The blades did nothing to Proto Man's met armor shield. Feeling his power return as his anti-virus finished off the de-stabilizer, Mega Man got back to his feet. Ring Man's ruined metal body lay in the snow next to him, having had too many close encounters with hot plasma. Over him stood a red robot in a bright yellow scarf, who was staring defiantly at the Cain-bot before them.

"GAH! You stupid wanderer! You ruined my glory! I wanted to be the one to kill the little shrimp!" Emit Man screamed, sounding uncannily like a whiny five-year-old.

"That's just too bad." Proto Man picked up his shield as he turned to his brother. "Listen, Rock, I would stay, but right now there's someone that can help you more than I can."

"Blues, wait!"

But he didn't. He teleported out, and not two seconds later a dark orange streak landed, and Pharaoh Man materialized, his red eyes glowing with fury. He immediately lifted his arms, a bright orb of flame appearing above his head. But more frightening than this was the sight of the all of the ground at once being torn up from below. Skeleton mechaniloids began to rise from the ground, and they began clawing the sniper joes, slashing them and firing bone shaped bullets at the bubble bats from above.

"NO!" Emit Man continued to scream as he realized he couldn't fire his blades without hitting the sniper joes as well as the skull men. "Where did these things come from?!!!"

Mega Man, his confidence regained, equipped his super armor.

"Let's go, Rush!"

The dog appeared in Rush coil form, and Mega Man equipped the power bullet, a weapon he had gained from the Cain-bots in their last encounter. Running, Mega Man jumped on Rush, and it bounced him upward, through Emit Man's shield. Mega Man just absorbed the damage, and at the apex of his jump he fired point-blank. And that was the end of Emit Man.

The blue bomber quickly looked out at the field. Frost Man was still trying his hardest to break down Dr. Cossack's laboratory door, and he was succeeding. Though wave after wave of the mechaniloids went after him, he froze all of them, creating a barrier behind himself. Finally, the left door was ripped from its hinges, and the broken metal, though it was two feet thick, went like plywood into the Pharaoh army.

"Oh no you don't!" Mega Man directed Rush that direction, and began pelting Frost Man from overhead.

"Mega Man! I am mad! I am gonna get you!"

Frost Man prepared to jump, and Mega Man knew that even despite this robot master's bulk, he could jump ridiculously high. But before Frost Man had a chance, a huge group of little green toads landed on him, and they began to spit tiny streams of acid all over the Wily-bot. Frost Man tried to brush them off, but it was to no avail.

"Aaaaugh! Make them get off!"

"Hey, Rock!" Toad Man, from just inside Cossack's lab, waved at the blue hero. "How do you like my new croaker cannon?"

"Well, it certainly is effective!" Mega Man fired his charged buster and finished Frost Man off.

"Mega Man."

Pharaoh Man's voice boomed loudly over the noise of his mechaniloid servants, and as Mega turned to look at the speaker, a stunned awe hit him. Pharaoh Man's entire body was glowing with a beaming light, and his eyes had darkened to a complete black. With the strong hand gestures of a composter he directed his army, and the skeletal forces moved swiftly to finish off the sniper joes.

"Mega Man," Pharaoh Man continued as soon as he noticed he had Mega Man's attention. "Dust Man is cut off from us. Please go and retrieve him, if at all possible."

"Sure thing! Come on, Rush!"

And they flew over to the junkyard, where strangely enough the Wily-bots didn't seem that interested in. But that only made the blue bomber more suspicious. Why would they go around the junkyard instead of through it?

Like any other day, Dust Man had been crushing old cars and whatnot. His left hand grasped the control stick of the magnetic crane as he hauled the old rusted autos, and he steered it over to the giant compactor. Dust Man had a lot to crush that day, so he found it annoying when a skinny robot, peeked out at him from the side of a pile of junk. It looked uncommonly like a metal ant with a cannon. Whatever it was, it quickly disappeared behind the rubbish and Dust Man went back to his work, not entirely interested.

What he didn't know, was that this robot was Sight Man, created by Dr. Cain. And it was after him. After sending a narrow beam, heavily encoded signal out, Sight Man took his cannon from his shoulder and loaded it.

_If this plan is going to work, I'll have to keep that janitor distracted._ Sight Man thought. _That shouldn't be too hard. That idiot doesn't look like he could hit me at point blank. Algorhythm Man had better hurry --- what the devil?!_

**Ker-thunk!**

The magnetic crane lifted Sight Man high into the air, and because he was facing downwards, he could see the mellow and yet cold eyes of Dust Man staring at him as the junkyard robot directed the machine over towards the compactor.

"Hey, hey, stop that! Put me down!" Sight Man struggled to reach his cannon, but it too was stuck firmly to the electromagnet. "Fight me for real! Don't -- hey stop!"

**Crash!**

Sight Man landed on the corpses of some old mechaniloids and rusted out cars. The walls began to close in, but he wasn't going to wait for that to happen. The ant jumped out of the compactor, high into the air. He aimed his cannon at Dust Man, only to have a red laser smack into him before he could get in a shot. It tore a hole straight through Sight Man, and he fell back into the compactor. And the crane had not been idle during all this. Stuck firmly on the electromagnet was another broken down vehicle, and it was already swinging overhead. It hit him, and at just the right angle to trap one of his feet. Sight Man struggled to get free, but as the walls of the compactor closed in, this became increasingly difficult, until finally it was impossible.

**Scrrrreeeeeeekkkksssshhhhhttt...**

Dust Man always did a good job in the junkyard.

"Tsk, tsk," a voice from overhead sounded. "Dust Man, you really should know better than to attack my brother like that."

Dust Man's systems scrambled in a million different directions before he could even figure out where the voice was coming from. His assailant, however, allowed his eyes to return right again before hitting him with another EMP; it was Epic Man. Even Dust Man, who had never seen this Cain-bot before, could tell. The familiar thin antenae running back his helmet and the giant spike coming out of his left shoulder were far too distinctive for him to go unrecognised. Dust Man tried to fire his dust crusher, but found himself missing his target by a very wide margin. And getting hit by another EMP wave.

"What boring things you Cossack-bots are." the midnight blue robot muttered in a bored tone as he inspected his hands and landed near the still writhing Dust Man. "Ah, Mega Man, I was waiting on you to show up."

The newly arrived bomber directed Rush to the ground and jumped off, aiming his buster directly at Epic Man. "What is it that you're here for, Epic Man? I won't let you hurt anyone!"

"Oh really? I think the situation is a little different than you think it is." Epic Man said. "See, you have a choice. You can either stop me from destroying Dust Man, here, while Algorhythm Man, who is hidden somewhere roundabouts, hacks into that mechaniloid army and destroys everyone here you care about. Or, you could go after him and leave me here to not only destroy your junk heap friend here, but also Dr. Cossack himself. Choose wisely, because after all, Dust Man here is weak and won't distract me long from Cossack, and yet Algorhythm Man has been hacking now for several minutes. It won't be long before he uses Pharaoh Man's own command circuit to take control of them and decimate this entire lab. And yet what good would any of it be without the doctor?"

Mega Man struggled. With horror he glanced over at Dust Man, who was resolutely trying his hardest to speak.

_" ---- Go, Mega. It doesn't matter what happens to me. Save the master and the mistre-zzzrrts ---- "_

Dust Man's transmission cut off abruptly as another EMP shock hit him. Mega Man wanted so badly to save him, but he knew what he had to do. It was too late for Dust Man. The best he could do is fire back a few shots at Epic Man while flying away on Rush.

"Dust Man...I'm sorry...."

Mega Man had to focus. He shook his head firmly, promising himself that he would let the sacrifice have meaning. He sent off a transmission to Pharaoh Man to let him know what was going on, then he went to find Dr. Cossack. To his horror, he found Epic Man waiting for him there, standing casually next to the door of Dr. Cossack's lab.

"That's the thing about Dust Man. He's weak, and doesn't distract for long."

A torpedo smacked into Mega Man, smacking him down to the ground. Immediately jumping up, Mega Man pointed his buster -- at no one. Epic Man was gone. But he could still hear his departing footsteps from inside the lab, so Mega Man ran after him to begin the chase. He was starting to get closer, when he heard what was then to him the worst sound in the world: a weapon firing. Fearing that he was too late, Mega Man turned the corner.

"Doctor....Cossack?"

Mega Man stood there dumbfounded. It wasn't Cossack that was the victim. In fact, he was standing there, looking smug in his engineered met armor chestplate and helmet. His plasma rifle was still aimed at the violent Cain-bot below him. Epic Man didn't seem that damaged, but even lying on the floor he could still see that Rock had arrived.

"Oh how the tables have turned...." Epic Man said. "And you, Mikhail, no pathetic little human is going to strike me and get away with it."

Defying everyone's expectations, Epic Man simply teleported away.

"You really shouldn't provoke him, Dr. Cossack."

The Russian man only grinned as he hefted the plasma rifle to his shoulder. "Come on, you have to admit that I was a little impressive."

"Please, we've got to get you out of here." the blue bomber insisted. "Algorhythm Man is trying to take over your mechaniloids, and we can't let you be here if that happens."

"You're right. And first order of business is to make sure my daughter is safe."

Roll looked a little odd as her, Kalinka, and two mummiras went through the streets of Moscow. The people there seemed to be used to the fact that Cossack's robots were based on monsters, but the sight of the very human-like Roll going without a coat in the chilly night made a few people in the street glance at her. The girl-bot couldn't help but think it terribly ironic, as the mummiras always made her shudder.

But she always felt safer with Proto Man around. Glancing up at the buildings surrounding her, she spied out every flitting shadow, hoping that it was her eldest brother. Roll had to admit a little scorn within her. Couldn't Proto Man just walk alongside them for once? By now most of the public had stopped believing that Proto Man was a threat....or at least Roll thought so. Why did he always insist on being alone? Really he was just being practical, Roll tried to tell herself. From his vantage point, wherever that was, he'd have a good view of the group and be able to be sure no one was following.

Staring at the tops of office and apartment buildings had made Roll fall behind. She hurried back to catch up with Kalinka, who was frantically searching for a taxi and muttering insults at the airport for being so far from the hospital. The housekeeper-bot shuddered to think about it. They had called Alyosha's office from Dr. Cossack's jet, only to find out that none of them knew where he was, only that his office computers were completely virus ridden and worthless. Fortunately it was only ten panicked minutes that this went on. Unfortunately, Alyosha was at the hospital with critical injuries.

Alyosha was a good husband, Roll knew. He was always affectionate, and while he always complained about Kalinka spending his money, it was easy to see that he loved bringing home enough money that she could spend it less practically. It was silly man-pride, but since Kalinka was silly enough herself, they were perfect for each other.

Riding in the taxi with Kalinka was almost frightening. There was a dark glare on her face, and if Roll watched it long enough, she could see faint waverings of sadness overcome her. But the waverings didn't last long. Kalinka would straighten herself out and glare again, staring past the mummira bodyguard and out of the window as if angry at Moscow. Roll shuddered and turned away.

"Turn here, please." Roll told the taxi driver in perfect Russian.

"Sure, miss."

_The poor man..._ Roll thought. _Having to drive such a melancholy group._

When they arrived, Kalinka could barely let her bodyguard out before getting out of the taxi (of course neither of them let her have a window seat) and since they left to protect her, Roll was left to pay the man. Not that she minded. She got her wages from Kalinka in any case.

Before any of them could enter the door, out came the last person any of them expected. Bass flung open the door, but it was engineered to open and close slowly, so the noise and damage he wanted were denied him. So to get his desired damage, he went outside and punched a wall, cursing in all the most brutal words he could think of.

"What are you looking at?" Bass screamed at a couple walking by on the street. "Mind your own business!"

"Bass, what is going on?"

The dark and completely furious robot snapped his head around to growl, but as soon as he saw that it was Kalinka he froze.

"You're...not supposed to be here..."

"Tell me what happened!"

Kalinka was trying to keep her voice in control, but from the sound of it, it could break at any moment. As Roll rejoined Kalinka, she noticed that this was the saddest she had ever seen Bass. He stared at the ground and cringed angrily, but he forced himself to look Kalinka firmly in the eyes.

"It was Ring Man." Bass sputtered with hatred. "Somehow Dr. Cain got to him and he got a virus. He told your husband he was going to take him back to Cossack's lab, but that was a lie. Ring Man...I brought Alyosha here, but he didn't...make it."

Kalinka looked shot. As the realization sank in, she started to tremble, and shook her head stubbornly.

"No...no! You are a liar!" she sobbed. "It is not true!"

Bass stood there awkwardly, cringing and not sure what he should do. "Um, there's some paperwork inside you need to do...but I guess you could let it wait or get your dad to do it or something..."

Proto Man, out of nowhere, dropped to the ground next to Kalinka. He took her hand and said something to her, something that Roll couldn't hear. Kalinka sniffed and nodded, and though she attempted to say something, only a few sounds came out. She just covered her mouth with her hand and wept harder.

"It's okay." Proto Man seemed to know what she wanted to say. "I'm coming in with you."

"Can you really do that?" Roll asked him. "Won't you get in trouble or something?"

"It doesn't matter." Blues dismissed the concern at once. "I'm not leaving her."

Kalinka straightened herself. "I want to go in now. I have to see him."

Proto Man nodded, leading her into the hospital. One of the mummiras opened the door for his mistress, who was still struggling hard to remain control of herself. As they passed him, Proto Man looked momentarily at Bass. With most of his face was covered up, it was almost impossible to tell what exactly he was trying to communicate before he abruptly pulled the new widow away. Almost. Bass lips firmly pressed together in hatred and his fangs showed slightly as the others went in the hospital.

Uncertain of herself, Roll followed behind them for a few steps before turning back to Bass. He was staring down at the pavement with hatred, tensing his hands as if searching for someone to strangle.

"TREBLE!" he shouted. "GET OUT HERE NOW!"

The purple wolf came out of the bushes, spitting out the branch he had been chewing on and converting into jet mode. He stepped on the dog to leave.

"Bass...."

He turned back to Roll with a face full of fury. His red eyes twitched with evil, and Roll found herself stepping back. But she could still see the pain in his eyes, the failure. Roll managed to persist in saying what she wanted to say.

"Please...don't be upset at yourself. I'm sure you did what you could to help Alyosha."

Roll could almost see her words bounce off Bass' armor, for all the good they did. His evil eyes didn't budge a millimeter. It was impossible for her to tell if Bass had even heard her. But he had.

"Mind your own business." Bass said as civilly as he could, which at the moment sounded more murderous than anything else. A second later, he was gone.

Roll stood out in the cold night air. Or morning, rather. She could see the sun beginning to rise out in the distance. In any case, this left the girl-bot in red alone and wondering when everything went so wrong. Though she couldn't feel the cold, she shivered, wishing that somehow Rock would show up and fix everything.

_No, he can't..._ Roll glitched bitterly. _Alyosha is dead now, and there's no fixing that. But...I better go in, Kalinka will need me._

Roll looked up into the sky, looking towards that one last glimpse of sunlight. "Please...please make everything alright again."

\\\\\\\\\\\\

- Oh, when I put "I hope you don't like Dr. Cossack" in the summary, I really meant "I hope you didn't like Alyosha". :D Actually, how'd you like the guy? I know I really should have had him more involved. I think if I revamp How Many (which I am very likely to do) I'll include him hanging around somewhere.

=======Dust Man

**"Don't let me suck more than I can."**

Good point: Big appetite

Bad point: Bad breath

Like: Spring-cleaning

Dislike: Mice

Man, some of these MM&B data discs are just awkward. What is up with that quote? For my version of Dust Man, I didn't really get into the dust crusher. I just had him compress stuff outside of himself, because if you work as hard as Dust Man on a regular basis, you'd need something bigger than him to compress all the junk. So, in my mind, Dust Man is the sad but cute one, like Eeyore. He doesn't really talk to people, and his bad breath keeps most humans away, besides his noisy and dirty job. However, Dust Man is friendly, and he likes people. He's so good at his job that he is usually thinking about other things when he works.

Dust Man was originally meant for sanitation work before Wily interfered. Because Wily was very impatient with Dr. Cossack when the Russian doctor was trying to make his robots have weapons, the MM4 robot masters ended up with disadvantages. Dust Man's is that his buster arm didn't work. However, Kalinka, with the help of Crystal Bot, was able to make a working heat laser for him. It's designed to melt metal, so it's actually very powerful. This is what he uses against Sight Man.

- Okay, so this chapter's depressing music is Evil. It's one of my favorite songs ever, and maybe you've heard it. The music video doesn't really match the tone of the song, but whatevs. Enjoy. www. youtube .com /watch?v=v6qN-HBH54o

- In case you haven't played Mega Man 4 in a long time, mummiras are those robots that would fling their heads at you in Pharaoh Man's stage.

- Since Treble bites stuff, Bass generally never allows him inside of buildings unless he wants to annoy someone. And yeah, Bass is not that good at sympathy. Proto Man should really cut him some slack on that. It's not like it's something Bass does often.


	7. Prelude to DOOM

"I'm sorry, Roll, but you have to stay here." her brother explained. "Dr. Cossack and Kalinka have to be safe, and until we can be sure that we are immune from Dr. Cain's viruses, there can't be any robots going with them. Didn't Kalinka explain all of this to you?"

"I didn't want it to be true...she didn't look like she wanted to be alone."

"All of us have to deal with things we don't want to." he quietly explained. "For now, this is how things have to be. I'm just glad that there are enough human bodyguards to protect them..."

Roll nodded without enthusiasm, staring down at her neatly folded hands. She was back in the last place she wanted to be: her home laboratory. Though she should have felt safe there, and in fact the security had been upgraded recently, but all the same, she was fearful of being trapped in one spot. It seemed nowhere in the world was safe at all, and if she was going to be anywhere, she wanted to be where she was needed. Now? Now she was useless, sitting helplessly in the hangar bay as the robots started to gather.

Team 5 was getting angry. After losing both their fighter and their main technician, the eight members were now down to six, and all of them were ready for revenge. Napalm Man looked especially antsy, and both he and Charge Man, generally better tempered robots, were angrier than Roll had ever seen them before. If she hadn't been so numb from everything else going on, she would have shivered. Stone Man, for once like his name, showed none of his trademark goofiness or humor, and stood off to the side silently. Roll was surprised to see Star Man there talking to Jewel Man, as he had barely ever left his space station since Team 5 had taken it from the forces of Wily. Star Man saw her watching him, and the housekeeper quickly turned away. Star Man was the most ill-tempered of all of them, and Roll was afraid to attract his attention. Like always of late, Crystal Bot and Auto were working together on some new sciency thing. It was always beyond her, and Roll had learned to stop asking.

Wave Man walked over to Mega Man, sterner than ever. "So tell us, what happened at Dr. Cossack's? How many of Team 4 still lives?"

The blue bomber struggled to answer at first, trying to keep his own grief contained. "Well, long story short, Algorhythm Man was trying to hack into Pharaoh Man's army by using something he had forced Drill Man to install on Dr. Cossack's computers. In the end, Pharaoh Man had to set them to self-destruct while Dr. Cossack got away. Skull Man and Drill Man were already corrupted, and Ring Man had to be destroyed."

Roll unintentionally interrupted her brother with a sob, remembering what Ring Man had done, that now Kalinka's child would never know his father.

"I'm sorry..." she mumbled. "Please go on. Don't let me bother you."

Roll shrank a bit, holding her arms tightly as she forced down her sadness. Stone Man went over, gently patting her on the head with one of his huge hands. It was a little awkward, but it made her smile a wavery, weak smile.

"So that leaves five of them?" Wave Man asked Mega Man.

"No. They got Dust Man and Toad Man. Bright Man and Pharaoh Man escaped, and Dive Man was off in the Caspian Sea at the time. All three of them are still in Russia, destroying some rampant mechaniloids. I don't think we'll be seeing them any time soon. But the good news is that two of the Cain-bots, Emit Man and Sight Man, are dealt with. From the looks of it, they seem to be the ringleaders of everything going on. But all of them are more powerful, so we have to be more cautious than ever."

Mega Man turned away, looking at the computer screens Auto was working at. "Sooner or later they're going to try and attack this lab. If they're daring enough to try and take over Dr. Cossack's, then there's nothing to stop them from coming here."

"It's my desire to join forces." Wave Man stated firmly. "You are a capable robot, Rock, but Team 5 has a personal investment in this. Working together we will be able to deal with these insolent mockeries appropriately. All we need is a target."

"And I have one for you."

Like he always did, Proto Man appeared from the shadows. Roll heartened, but her optimism faded as she saw that Proto Man's usual confidence had been replaced by a more sinister calm.

"After I brought Kalinka back to her father," Blues began. "I went investigating. I now have the location of a 'Cain Castle' located in the Spanish countryside. Everything I discovered seems to indicate that Dr. Cain himself is operating there."

"That's weird." Mega Man remarked. "Usually I have to fight all the robot masters before getting to a castle. And why does Dr. Cain even have one? That doesn't seem like his style."

"Let's just consider it an advantage." Wave Man said. "Besides, arresting Dr. Cain means that his robots will have no one to repair them."

The communications panel beeped, and Roll stood up, waving to both Auto and Rock that she would get it, and that they could continue doing what they were doing. So the girl-bot pushed the appropriate buttons.

"Ah, good morning, Agent Reyes!" Roll mustered up all her cheer to answer as she normally did. "What can we do for you here at the labs?"

From the dark, surly look on his face, Roll guessed that she might as well not have tried to feign a good mood. "It's about Bass. He put in a report about everything that happened in Moscow, but he hasn't been seen since. Russia is demanding that he return for a full investigation, as some of their officials think that Bass was somehow behind Alyosha's death."

"But that's impossible!" Roll's exclamation attracted the attention of several robots behind her. "Even the autopsy showed that Alyosha's injuries came from a blunt weapon, not from plasma! It was obviously Ring Man!"

"That's not even the point. They think Bass either has a virus or set this scheme up somehow. They're angry and they're looking for someone to blame. And remember, Bass wasn't even supposed to leave the U.S. in the first place. I know he's trying to do the right thing, but he's making defending him really difficult. He's got a lot to answer for."

"Here's your stupid answers! Roll, get out of the way!"

Roll turned around to find that Bass had teleported in. Or rather, she guessed it must have been Bass from the voice and the arms carrying the ruins of what used to be robot masters. The girl-bot hurried aside, and Bass promptly dumped what remained of Centaur, Blizzard, Magma, Solar, and Signal Man onto the laboratory floor, and bits of screws and bolts scattered in all directions.

"You tell those bureaucrats to shut it!" Bass almost screamed at the comm monitor. "I don't associate with the likes of these idiots! How many of them do I have to kill to prove that?!!"

Reyes stared at the pile of enemy robots stunned, then looked into the eyes of the furious Forte. Sighing a little, some of the tense muscles in his face relaxed.

He answered, "All of them."

"That can be arranged." Bass retorted. "You just have to trust me. And if the Russians give you problems, have them contact Cossack and he'll handle them. Now leave me alone."

Bass promptly shut off the telescreen, then turned around to find that everyone was staring at him. Besides Mega Man, that is, who was searching the pile of robot masters curiously.

"Um, Bass, why is Magma Man here?"

"Ask Canada." Bass snarled, his voice two tones deeper than normal from the still present anger. "He got a virus and started wrecking crap. I'm sure it's on their news somewhere. I'm not even sure if anyone from Team 9 is still normal."

"Thanks for noticing me," Jewel Man remarked in icy tones as he folded his arms. "And thanks for making a mess with those robot masters for Roll to clean up."

"No, Jewel Man, don't worry about it." Roll was already reaching with a broom to get some bolts that had rolled under a computer. "I can use some distraction right now."

Bass was too busy trying to stab Jewel Man with his eyes to notice Crystal Bot approaching him at first. "Hey, Forte-kun, I need to upgrade your anti-virus." Crystal Bot said quietly, trying not to glitch. "I already got everybody else, and it wouldn't hurt if I did a quick scan too."

The dark robot was more than sick of mopey people at the moment. "And what's wrong with you?!" he snapped.

She looked up at him, her eyes full of hurt. "Gyro Man is dead."

"Oh, um, sorry."

"If we could get back to business," Wave Man began. "There is still an invasion ahead of us. Proto Man, what do you know of this Cain Castle?"

"I've got some of the scematics." he answered. "But I don't know how many robot masters will be there."

"Well, let's see," Mega Man thought out loud. "How many of us are going? Bass, you're coming, right?"

"If I get to kill Cain-bots, hell yes."

"Um, okay, and Wave Man, you're going?"

"Yes. Star Man and Stone Man will remain on the space station, but Napalm and Charge Man will go. I couldn't keep them back in any case."

"We'll put a stop to this jerk, just you wait!" Napalm Man lifted one of his napalm launchers above his head, having to catch himself not to fire it inside the lab.

"And, well, Blues..." Mega Man hesitantly turned to his brother. "I'd really like it if you came as well. Here, I need to give you these -- they're your Cain-bot powers that we got last time we fought them."

Proto Man took the red disc from Mega curiously, but installed the weapons nonetheless. And he even smiled. "Yes, I'm going. I'll need to check their computers to see what exactly their plans entailed in any case, just to make sure that all of Dr. Cain's plans are dealt with. When I was in Japan, I saw one of the Cain-bots trying to find one of Dr. Imahara's files. From what I can tell, he's trying to find all the scientists that Imahara was training. Don't worry, he didn't get them."

"Dr. Cain always hated robots, but it's so hard to believe that he'd go this far to get rid of us." Mega Man noted. "But anyway, it's great to have you fighting with us, Blues!"

Proto Man smiled again. "Let's get to planning this, shall we?"

Roll heard all of the proceedings as she swept up the broken-off bits from the robot masters and began to take their remains to Auto to be examined. She shuddered to think that someone would want to kill robots and all the humans who could create them. For once the thought of her creator being dead already of natural causes was something of a comfort. As Roll hauled the front half of Centaur Man to a repair table, she had to stop a moment and glitch.

"Roll, please come here."

The housekeeper turned to her brother, who was still standing with the others as they discussed further plans for invading Cain Castle. Roll lifted Centaur Man onto a table and went curiously over to him, noting that his voice seemed a lot more compassionate than normal.

"Roll," he continued when she approached. "I want you to go up to the space station with Star Man and Stone Man. You'll be safe there."

"But Rock...you need me here! I can help monitor you on your missions, and keep Auto organized..."

"Please don't argue with me." Mega Man put a hand on her shoulder. "I've got to watch out for you now, and since we're now the only ones with a super teleporter, there's no way for Dr. Cain to reach you there. If he can attack Dr. Cossack's lab, then he can attack here. In fact, I'm a little suprised that he hasn't already. I can't let something happen to you, so please just go."

Roll tried to protest, but seeing the pained look in her brother's eyes, she simply looked down. "Alright, if it makes you feel better. Just let me get these robot masters sorted out for Auto first."

"Thank you."

Roll nodded before walking away to finish her job, unsure of how to feel. While she always wanted to support her brother, she was scared, and he knew it probably better than she did. So she just went to work on bringing Solar Man to the next repair table.

"Speaking of things Dr. Cain doesn't have," Bass spoke up. "Death spikes were always Dr. Wily's thing. With that kind of technology, the Cain-bots would be no problem; they're not immune."

"But we don't have any." Mega Man started. "Oh wait, you mean Crystal Bot?"

"NO! Absolutely not!" Jewel Man reacted. "How can you even suggest that? Crystal Bot is one of our few technicians left! If something happened to her..."

Jewel Man didn't finish his sentence, and Bass ignored the vicious stares he was getting from that direction. "So Wave Man, what do you think?"

"It's a sound plan." the Team 5 leader agreed. "Jewel Man, how often must I remind you that I am the one responsible for her? Besides, the consequences of not using her would certainly be more severe than if we withheld her abilities."

"I like it!" the tech-bot declared as she plugged a drive into Bass' neck for his anti-virus upgrades. "But remember, I can't really use a crystal death spike as a weapon like I did that one time. I can still make death spikes, but I'll have to stand still for them to work. You'll have to throw the baddies at me or something."

"I can't believe you're even considering this!" Jewel Man protested. "She's got Toad Man disease!"

"_Ahbohjee_, it's not nice to call it that." Crystal Bot scolded him, swinging a finger at him. "It's Wily disease. Besides, Forte-kun's been training me the past five years, and now I'm super smart and strong! So relax, okay? I want to get back at them for what they did to my friends."

Seeing Crystal Bot's anger was strange, and it made Roll nervous. Revenge was never something Roll considered often. She just wanted to get by, to make everything alright again. She glitched, hoping that when all this was over, she would be able to get back to Russia to help Kalinka. The poor girl would need her more than ever, now that she was facing a future of being a single mom.

The sound of metal against metal interrupted Roll's musings, and it was Star Man. He was hauling Signal Man, the last of Bass' recent victims. Putting the wrecked Cain-bot on a table, he addressed Roll.

"Let's go. We're in teleportation range of the station now."

"I'm coming. Dub!"

The spider-bot obediently crept his way over to his mistress.

"Okay, Dub, you stay here and keep the place clean for Mega Man. Do whatever he or Auto tells you to."

The spider-bot twirped his compliance.

"Good boy."

Roll headed for the super teleporter, where Star Man and Stone Man were waiting for her. The machine was huge, large enough to hold several robots, and its main area was shaped like a large cylinder. Two double doors that locked tightly were the only entrance to the teleporter, and up in space Star Man's station held a similar tube where they would be recieved.

As Roll hurried forward, she noticed a little brown bird flitting near her. She stopped, and it landed on her shoulder. It was one of Crystal Bot's little pipies, and Roll's smile happily shone as she looked under its wing to see the number 13 engraved underneath. A glint of light caught her eye, and she could see Crystal winking at her merrily. Roll waved before joining her escorts.

Stone Man opened the door. "Ladies first."

Roll giggled. Maybe being in the space station wouldn't be so bad.

\\\\\\\\

- Man, I have been feeling good about writing recently! I hope these past two chapters show it. And for the next two chapters....muahahahaHAHAAHAHA*cough**hack**cough*. Gah, some of us are not good at evil laughs. Anyway, this chapter's a shortie, because plotwise I can't really cram in too much. Y'all need a breather anyway. I'm trying not to write too much at once, because brevity is the soul of wit, and I've noticed that my shorter chapters in Okkusenman were better, for the most part. I wasn't wasting a lot of time explaining things that didn't need explaining. But, voice your opinion in a review if you disagree.

======Stone Man

**"Guts Man, let's go see a movie."**

Good point: Technology

Bad point: Rocky persistence

Like: Good movies

Dislike: Scrooge person

Japanese CD data:

Good point: Strong-willed

Bad point: Stubborn

Like: Walk with a oil drink

In my mind, Stone Man is one of the cutest robot masters there is. To me he's a big fluff, and he's very friendly. Of all the Team 5 robots, he's had the easiest time becoming a good guy, as he was never that evil to begin with. Stone Man cares a lot about all of his friends, and even about people he doesn't know that well. He doesn't like people that talk during movies, but after them he can argue a point like no one's business.

In the little timeline I made up, Stone Man was started by Wily just before MM3, but in the end wasn't finished in time to join that team. Only when Wily was trying to bluff out Mega Man with the MM5 scheme did he bother to finish Stone Man, along with most of the other Team 5 robots. As a result, Stone Man's weapon didn't start out that strong. With his upgrades designed by Crystal Man, Stone Man can now shoot out clumps of stone and cause them to split apart at his bidding.

======Star Man

A robot created for space exploitation.

**"Can you see the star over there?"**

Good point: Dreamer

Bad point: Escapologist

Like: Opera

Dislike: Realist robot

Japanese CD data:

Good point: Romanticist

Like: Sentimental opera

Dislike: Robots without dreams

It seems that my vision of Star Man was always very different from what the game guys had in mind. The Star Man in my head was a bit more austere, a bit more silent and controlled. I always imagined that he was such a dreamer that he openly shunned people who he thought were likely to criticize his desires, and that he rarely speaks of them to anyone.

Star Man was the third Team 5 robot to be begun, and had he been finished then, he would have been on Team 2. Yet he ended up being finished with most of the other Team 5 bots. Even Wily would admit that his idea for this robot was strange. Wily created him with the ability to appreciate art so that he could try to out-do Light in making robots more creative. However, this wasn't really possible, as robotic imaginations aren't capable of dreaming up things that don't exist -- that being the very core of art itself. Star Man is capable of this to some extent, but is far too aware of his limitations.

Star Man had a moderately easy time when he became a good guy at the end of Okkusenman, but that was mostly because they let him work on his space station, something he'd rarely been able to do under Wily.

- huh, I forgot to link a depressing song for this chapter. Hm...it's because I cut out a huge emotional plot point for use further on down the line. Don't worry, you'll get to see the scene. And you'll hate/enjoy it. :D For now, here's www. youtube .com /watch?v=MHMGhk91Hgo That's the most pwnage remix/revisioning of Dust Man's theme you will ever hear in your life.


	8. Father of the Robots

The goateed human stood outside his hotel, taking in a few puffs of his cigarette before going in for one last night of sleep before his flight back to Washington D.C. He briefly considered walking about Monstropolis a little before turning in, just to waste time while getting his smoke. But he decided against it. The walk to the convenience store was exercise enough for the aging politician, so he opted for a small alleyway for a little privacy and quiet, not really expecting that he would get neither.

"Oh, hey there, Blues." the man said. "Wow, for once I catch you before you see me."

Proto Man scowled. He approached the politician as close as he could without getting close to the neighboring street's lights. "You know for a fact that you would never see me at all if I didn't allow it, Harry."

Congressman Harry Briggs took blew out a plume of smoke before answering. "I guess that's true. Gee, it's been at least a year since we've talked. How are you in these virus-ridden days? Manage to keep clean? Bit ironic if you were infected and killed me off."

The red and grey robot had never liked Briggs, and while Briggs knew this perfectly well, it never ceased to amuse him. Every time Proto Man was around him he just had to laugh in that casual, easily amused way he always did. It grated on the robot's metaphorical nerves like always. Several years ago, when Proto Man had been nothing more than an experimental robot in Light Laboratories, Harry had been one of the government agents assigned to observe Dr. Light's work. And that was when Proto Man had learned to distrust him, as he treated the robot like a child. Even now he seemed to have a hard time taking Blues (or much of anything else outside of politics, for that matter) seriously.

"I'm fine." the robot answered in flat tones, arms folded. "How's your divorce?"

"Pretty good, actually. The ex is letting me keep my car. It's going even better than my re-election bid. But what's really on your mind?"

Blues relaxed a little....emphasis on little. "I wanted to know what you did about those names I sent you. Dr. Imahara had several American students, and all of them are potential targets by Dr. Cain."

Even before Proto Man had finished talking, Briggs was waving away his concerns. Coughing twice, he answered. "Don't worry about it. We've got them protected as safely as we can. And if you prevented Demi from finding those names in the first place, then tracking them won't be easy. Or so easy anyway. You worry too much."

"Sometimes I have to. I'm going on a mission tonight, and I just had to know that I'm being taken seriously in D.C."

"What mission is that?"

Proto Man just turned one corner of his mouth upwards. Briggs was familiar enough with this expression. It was the same one he always used when he wasn't going to answer a question. Briggs chuckled.

"Alright, keep your secret then." Harry threw his finished cigarette down. A puddle put it out, but he stomped on it nonetheless out of habit. "Y'know, there's talk of you getting pardoned going around. Sounds like it might actually happen this time."

Proto Man turned bitterly away. "Just because I'd be pardoned doesn't mean it didn't happen. It....doesn't just go away."

"I should tell 'em you said that. Anyway, if you and Mega take down this Dr. Cain guy, I have it from credible sources that you're headed for a full pardon. It might not make everyone happy, but it's what you deserve."

The robot stood up and tightened his scarf, starting to walk away. "If I was going to be forgiven, they would have done it a lot sooner than now. Goodbye, Harry."

"Y'know, Blues," Harry delicately pulled out his cigarettes for another go. He was just in that mood. "You always were my favorite robot. Your kid brother's nice and all, but he doesn't have spunk like you. I bet you knew that. I bet you even came down here just to talk to your Uncle Harry."

If Proto Man had been less self-controlled, he would have either had an outburst of laughter or gotten upset. Briggs certainly was an arrogant one, calling himself family like that. He didn't even come close to having the right to call himself a third-cousin twice removed, much less an uncle. As it was, Blues almost snorted as he looked over his shoulder for a final comment.

"You're a mess."

"No one knows it better than I do, either! 'Night, kid."

Briggs never actually saw exactly when Proto Man left. He was used to Proto Man's disappearances. Pulling out a lighter, he flicked it open and held it up to the fresh cigarette unconsciously. There were too many thoughts going on for him to pay attention at first, but as he was about to hold the flame to the white end, he decided that he was too tired for a smoke. It was getting late, and the first one had been enough. He put away his nicotine accessories and stared upwards at the top of the buildings, trying to guess where Proto Man had gone.

"Good luck, kid."

\\\\

It was was actually nice to be on the space station. Roll had almost never been up there before, and there were still plenty of labs, observatories, and mining areas where she had never been before. Usually she wasn't so interested in science or mining, but she could use the distraction. Star Man and Stone Man had given her a complete tour, showing her the microgravity bacterial cultures, the asteroid catching and mining techniques, and even the humans' main lounge, an eloquently designed room complete with a coffee bar, book shelves, and a wall of reinforced high-impact glass panelling for a gorgeous view of the stars.

The tour was concluded at Star Man's private observatory, little more than an open, glass area with a large telescope built into the only non-translucent wall and a three-sided computer in the center of the room, which Roll and Stone Man were both sitting at. Stone Man turned on the computer to show Roll some of its functions as Clef 13 merrily flew about above them, enjoying the astronomic scenery.

"We're lucky to be in here, Roll." he said. "Star Man usually never lets anyone come up here."

"This whole station used to be mine." Star Man looked away from the telescope long enough to comment. "Everyone's lucky to be on the station at all."

"Tell that to the government."

Roll was paying little attention at the moment. One of the jet mets had flown into the room, and Roll thought it was completely adorable. It squealed hello in its computerish language before addressing Star Man, who finally removed himself from his telescope.

"They always seem to need me...I can hardly spend ten minutes here without being interrupted!" Star Man threw his hands in the air in frustration. "But oh well. You two enjoy yourselves, and don't break anything! I'll be back in a bit."

Roll giggled as Star Man left, the met leading the way. "Wow, Star Man talks a lot more up here than he does on the planet."

"This is his home." Stone Man explained. "He likes it here the best of all of us, even with all these humans on board."

"I think they make it better, actually. They have artistry like robots never could have. I love what they've done here! It looks a lot better than Wily's original design for it. And these mets are so cute!"

"Gravity Man reprogrammed them." Stone Man said, some of the happiness fading from his voice as he thought of his now dead team member.

"Oh...I'm sorry I brought it up..."

"No, don't worry about it. I like to remember." The bulky robot shifted a bit in his seat. "Gravity Man hated it on the space station. It alway threw his internal gravity adjusters off. He even designed these weights that he would wear just to feel normal again. I'm glad that Wave Man is such a good leader, because without him all of us would be too different to get along."

"It's strange that you say that." Roll casually rested her chin on her hands. "All of you seem to get along so well."

"We had to if we were going to handle all the trouble the other teams gave us. We were never accepted by them, so we had to accept each other."

Stone Man noted something on the computer, and he leaned forward and pressed a few keys. A moment later, the computer beeped.

"What is it?" Roll asked as Clef 13 landed on her hand, curious for the answer himself.

"It's Auto." the Team 5 robot answered. "They started the attack on Cain Castle."

\\\\

So far the attack had been fairly strange to Mega Man. So much of it felt like going through a Wily Castle, with its hazardous jumps, enemy placement, and electrical traps. Sure, the mechaniloids were different, but somehow it felt easier.

_I'm just getting used to it..._ Mega thought. _I have been doing this for a long time. _

The mechaniloids were the same ones he had faced the last time he had fought Dr. Cain and put a stop to his plans. There were the blue, electric sparkers that hovered above the ground, the yellow drill minis that unburrowed to try their attacks from below, and the red flyers that constantly shot lasers at him. These only puzzled Mega Man further.

_I don't get it. He upgrades the robot masters but not these guys? And why does he even have a castle? Last time we fought he had a mobile laboratory._

Rock got the feeling that he should have been asking himself these questions earlier. But for the moment, he just shot another sparker and dismissed his thoughts. He had to concentrate on what he was doing. He knew it was better not to contact the others; though he wanted to, they had agreed not to contact each other unless they ran into a robot master. Team 5 was in another part of the castle, being the distractions for Mega Man and Bass so that they could find their own way in and possibly find Dr. Cain. Jewel Man was with them, having insisted that he protect Crystal Bot. This thought comforted Mega Man some. Jewel Man was a good fighter with a strong power.

Mega Man jumped over a pit. As he landed, he saw his way was barred by one of those one way only gates.

"Well, here goes!" the blue bomber bravely went inside, ready for whatever robot master would be on the other side.

But there was none. Instead Mega Man found himself inside a dark, windowless room, lit only by a single fluorescent light that hung from the ceiling. The room was a complete mess. Shelves were across all the walls, carrying a random selection of hardware, scattered blueprints, and discs. A wooden desk was on the opposite wall, and something was sitting at it. Whatever it was, it was slumped on the desk and Rock didn't have a clear view of what it was.

Noise and light came from the right side of the room, and another one way gate opened to reveal Bass, who was clearly every bit as apprehensive about the place as Mega Man, and probably even more so. And it was also clear that he was annoyed the bomber beat him there.

"Oh, so those halls lead to the same place?" Mega Man noted. "I think this room must be in the center of the castle or something."

"So what is it then?"

"I'm not sure yet, I only just got here."

Something at the desk stirred, and both Mega Man and Bass lifted their busters at it. A scruffy looking man sat up, pale and sickly looking. It took them a minute to realize that this was indeed Dr. Cain.

The doctor sat up groggily, as if he had to force himself awake. "Mega Man, is that you? Oh thank God! Please, you have to help!"

"Why would we help you?" Bass snapped, not pleased at being ignored. "You're the one behind all this!"

Cain didn't answer, and neither robot was certain that the question had even registered. Instead the human shook his head, and his large shoulders began to shudder as the tears flowed. An oily hand wiped at them, but this only served to mark the miserable man's cheeks with dark stain.

"Please, Mega Man, you have to save my sons! Rodney and Klaus are their names. They won't spare them! They won't....they won't..." Dr. Cain sobbed. "I don't know where they are! Please say that you'll help!"

"What do you mean? Who won't spare them?"

And once again the doctor seemed altogether unaware of the responses he was getting. It occurred to Mega Man that Dr. Cain might have been on some sort of drugs. That would certainly explain at least some of his behavior.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...." the man rambled on. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen...it wasn't my idea...oh my boys! I'm so sorry..."

Rock slowly lowered his buster. "I promise I'll try to save your sons."

Dr. Cain looked up with weak but grateful eyes. He began to sound a lot more calm. "Thank you...so much. That means there's nothing left to do."

"What the crap are you talking about?" Bass interjected, lowering his own buster not out of pity, but because this man was clearly not a threat.

The human sighed and looked down, pulling down his hands from the surface of the desk. "He didn't want me to be able to do this, but I figured it out! I finally did, when it's too late...I'm so sorry......if I'm quick enough-"

Dr. Cain's left hand snapped up, but not empty. The black object he was holding barely registered in Mega Man's mind fast enough for him to close his eyes. Fortunately, as the echoing noise blasted sickeningly around them, the blue bomber saw nothing and his whimper was disguised by the sound. Shaken, he reluctantly opened his eyes. There was no question about it. Dr. Cain was dead.

Though himself shaken, Bass was obviously less affected, and what shock he did have was tempered by both curiousity and confusion. He approached the body, which was mostly hidden from Mega Man's view by the desk. He knelt down for a closer look, and whatever he saw apparently clarified things for him. He cringed, and for a moment it seemed he did show some pity.

"Hey Rock, come look at this."

"Uh, why don't you just tell me what it is?"

Bass rolled his eyes. "Wimp. Anyway, it looks like this moron had chip in his brain."

"What, a computer chip?"

For once in his life, the dark robot abstained from sarcasm. Even Bass had his limits. "Yeah."

The truth hit Mega Man with a pang of fear. "That means that someone else is in control."

"That's right! Muahaha....MUAHAHAHAAAAHAA!"

Mega Man literally jumped back in fear, immediately equipping his super armor and aiming his buster to the left. He trembled in pure terror, glad that his body at least knew what to do -- his mind was too busy reeling from the shock. Bass' reaction was worse, and he shook his head in desperate hatred, seething.

"NO!" the dark robot cried out. "You bastard! You're DEAD!"

"Oh yes...it's me, the great scientist, Dr. Albert Wily!"

The entire left wall lit up, for in fact it wasn't a wall but a giant TV screen. And indeed Dr. Wily's image was displayed, far too close up for the robots' tastes, laughing every bit as evilly as he did when he was alive.

"Well, hello, Mega Man..." The mad scientist said in his sarcastic drawl. "If you are watching this right now, it means that it is now the pinnacle of my greatest plan ever! Now, we have been through a lot, haven't we? That's why I took the extra time to make sure that I got everything just right. Ha, I wish I was there to see it in person, but, unfortunately I don't think that's going to happen..."

For just a moment, the recording Wily saddened. But with a twist of the lips his meditativeness turned back into a wicked grinning scowl. "I'll just have to comfort myself with the knowledge that I have finally defeated you! And maybe you might still be fostering the stupid notion that Dr. Cain is in charge of this. But no, of course not! You know just as good as I do that he is a pathetic excuse for a robotics technician! It was me, all along!

"Okay, so let me explain to you exactly what's going to happen. At this point you would see that I have upgraded all of the Cain-bots into something much stronger than that Cain ever could have done, and they have been dealing with the world's leading sentient robotics scientists, and of course that frustrating Dr. Cossack. I swore revenge, and now I have it! Muahahaha! Oh wait, I'm sorry, Bass, I knew how much you liked him. Bass is there, isn't he, Mega Man? I hope so. I wouldn't want that little _backstabber_ to miss out on my little party! Buahaha!"

The dark robot's eyes narrowed only slightly in reaction to the video. He folded his arms, but this simple movement was made awkward by the sheer amount of loathing that was coursing through Bass' circuits. Mega Man couldn't blame him. His own arms were still shaking, and his wide eyes stared in disbelief at the screen.

"Okay, I'm getting off-topic." Wily tapped his forehead in concentration. "So, I know it has been a long time since our last fight, Mega Man, but my faithful servants had to take the necessary time to make sure my plan was in place. As it turns out, that fool Cain wasn't entirely useless. I just had to..._convince_ him to cooperate, and well, let's just say...Mega Man, have you heard of Armor Core Anti-virus? Of course you have, it's only the most popular anti-virus program there is! Or it would be if I didn't have anything to do with it! Do I need to tell you what that 'helpful' software _really _does? And how many _millions_ of people bought it, supporting my schemes unknowingly?"

"No! You can't! You just can't!" the blue bomber exclaimed, the futility of it all hitting him at once. "Not this...not when I worked so hard!"

But the recording went on unhampered. "Oh, but wait, there's Armor Core's competitors, Hitenshi Firewall and _Light Subsidiaries_. And doesn't the military use Anderson Anti-virus? Oh wait! Those are my creations as well! Oh no, I guess this means that almost EVERY SINGLE ROBOT IN THE WORLD is now MINE!" Wily grew red as he practically screamed this into the camera. "HAHAHAAA!"

The blue bomber glitched, and his busters went back into hand mode as he sank to his knees. No wonder things had been so easy in the castle. There had been no need for difficulty.

"Really, Mega Man, what need did I have to actually defeat you?" Wily grinned. "I can just ruin everything and make you useless. Utterly and completely useless! Are you really going to be able to save everyone when my servants engage the secret function of all my anti-virus programs? Then this entire world will be torn apart! But no, the people will survive. Just not your precious sentient robots! And Bass....haha, Bass, my wayward creation, I have a surprise for you."

Bass, even more stunned than Rock, only cursed at the screen and made ever-tightening fists. He was beyond knowing what else to do.

"So you know that little cave you found in Canada? That one with 'Zero' in it? I'm sure you've found it by now. I did make it very obvious."

Both robots immediately came to attention, already guessing the turn fate had taken.

"You fool! Did you actually believe that it was my real masterpiece? It was just a fake! A first draft, if you will. Of course once I saw the very nice armor that my Crystal Bot quite helpfully left on my computers before you stole her, I had to start over again to make a first class edition of Zero! Ha, and you were right, the real one was in Russia, for a time. And you came so close to finding him! But of course you didn't." Wily smiled faintly, his face covered in smugness. "Because you are a failure. You failed in everything you ever tried to do, and why would this be any different?"

Mega Man looked over at Bass, expecting at least a swear. But there was nothing. Bass stood there like a pillar, bitterly staring at the floor.

"So while the rest of my loyal servants are destroying all of the premiere scientists in the world," Dr. Wily continued. "Zero, my greatest creation, will awaken. And that means the end of you, Mega Man! I couldn't complete my plans without a proper ending for you, could I? Of course not! And then who will be left to protect Mega Man X? I know all about him. Zero will destroy him as well!"

"I won't let that happen!" Mega Man screamed. "You'll see!"

"And that brings me to my conclusion. Why would I do all of this? Besides revenge, that is. You see, with all the sentient robots and the scientists that can create them all dead, then it brings everything to zero, pun intended! No more robots...except for Zero, my creation! I will wipe out the entire history of robotics! And do you know what this means?" Wily's face grew larger as he leaned in. "That I will be the father of the robots!"

"You sick bastard..." Bass spat through trembling lips.

"He would really go this far just to beat Dr. Light?" Rock stepped back from the screen. "How...is this even possible?"

Surprisingly enough, even then Dr. Wily wasn't finished. "I know that in the past that you are a very lucky robot, so I came up with a nice back-up plan. If somehow your X survives this little scheme of mine, then Zero has an extra trick to make sure that X knows his place.....so that all the robots there might be will know their place below the great Zero! Don't understand? No worries! You'll see the true power of this new virus soon enough. And now, I guess all there is left to say is goodbye. So, goodbye forever, Mega Man! MUAAHAHAHAAAA HA HA!"

The screen blinked out, going dark and returning to the same color grey as the other walls. Bass still stared at it, numbly wishing his creator was alive so that he could kill him. But all he could do is stare hopelessly, wanting someone to come out from a hidden passage or something and tell them that it was all an elaborate and cruel joke. He barely noticed when Mega Man placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Stop it, Bass." Rock said. "We're not going to despair, not even now. That's what he would want. According to his own words, whatever hidden thing he put in those anti-virus programs hasn't been activated yet, and even if they were, we know what the problem is and how to solve it. All we have to do is tell the authorities what is going on, and we can limit what Dr. Wily has done."

The dark robot slowly turned his head, looking down at his associate with dull confusion and very clear doubt. It was like Mega Man was speaking a language Bass only partially understood. Bass didn't share Mega Man's faith or optimism, that much was certain.

"You...you're insane. You really are." Bass said as he flicked away Mega Man's hand. "And what are we supposed to do about Zero?"

"What? That's not the Bass I know." Mega Man started to get a little devious. "The Bass I know would be happy that Zero is alive so that he can find him and destroy him in what's sure to be called the battle of the century."

"Oh hell yes." Forte's voice hissed out from between his fangs as he started to regain his confidence. "I'll show that old bastard. It's not like he can create anything that isn't crap anyhow. Besides me. He was lucky that once."

"Right! Now let's destroy this place just in case whatever activates the virus is here. I better contact the authorities too...uh oh...my comm is down..."

"You two are the slowest robots I've ever seen in my life!"

Descending from where they had been hovering, Algorhythm Man, Epic Man, and Demi (the last of which rested on Epic Man's right, non-spiked shoulder) all settled to the ground before the two heroes, who immediately readied their busters. Demi jumped off Epic Man's shoulder as the other two robots did the same.

"So now you know the truth of our masters." Epic Man proudly proclaimed. "You, Bass, the ungrateful traitor, and you, Mega Man - "

Mega Man teleported out. The Cain-bots almost jumped back in surprise, and even Bass lifted an eyebrow until he realized that the blue bomber was probably just trying to tell Auto about the fake anti-virus software so that something could be done. It was a good idea, and Forte figured that he should try to distract the Cain-bots and gain the shorter robot more time.

"How did he do that?" Epic Man asked his counterpart with suspicion. "You were supposed to eliminate teleportation fields."

"I did!" Algorhythm Man shot back. "They've got these seperate....things that help them get out anyway."

"This is quite embarrasing." Epic Man shook his head before addressing Bass. "But I think more embarrasing for you. Poor thing. Left all alone while Rock runs off."

"Eh, I don't need him anyway!" Bass scoffed. "You two losers couldn't defeat me on your best day!"

"Oh, I see what you're saying." Algorhythm Man said to his brother. "It is rather shameful that Fish is so arrogant even when he has a clear and devastating disadvantage."

Bass' eye started twitching, which was not a safe sign for the Cain brothers. He hated his inadvertant nickname, and anyone who had ever dared mispronounce his musical name for the aquatic creature didn't have to wait long to suffer.

"Please," The orange and neon robot continued. "Let me fight him. I did so wish it the first time we met, and really I'm getting tired of him. I know it was supposed to be Zero's job, but must we really bother him about it for this weak, non-threatening Mr. Fish?"

Bass wasn't about to take any more of that. Before Algorhythm Man realized it, he was being punched in the face with the psycho pulse, his weakness. Epic Man's torpedos distracted Bass from his prey, but as he jumped and dodged them, he glanced over at Algorhythm Man. Far from being upset, the Cain-bot was happy, and his dented mouth showed it. In his hands was the teleportation device Crystal Bot had given Bass, and he was scanning it. Before the dark hero could do anything about it, Algorhythm Man threw the device at his head, and while it bounced off his head without doing anything significant, Bass knew the damage had been done.

"And now I can get rid of your little teleporting. You're way too hasty, Fish."

"CALL ME THAT AGAIN, I DARE YOU!"

"Oh, so it's a dare then? Very well, Fish. Fish, Fish-Fish. Fish."

He really should have known better than to run at Algorhythm Man, guns blazing. It was what they were expecting. If it weren't for the excellent quality of Bass' armor, Epic Man's torpedos along with his mocker's colored buster pellets would have put him in a far worse position. Fortunately for him, Mega Man showed up at about that time, easing the fight for him.

"Epic, we've got to continue the plan!" Algorhythm Man called out as he dodged a full-charge blast from the blue bomber.

"The plan? Hell!" Epic Man hissed. "But I suppose that we must."

"The test subject is here!" Demi, whose disappearance and sudden reappearance had gone completely unnoticed. "Psycho Man and Bullet Man are keeping them occupied in room 202-G!"

"Let's go!"

The Cain-bots teleported, and since both their internal and external teleports were non-operational, both Bass and Mega Man had to run to find the others, unable to warn them with their disabled comm systems.

"Don't worry, I already told both Rush and Treble to get here by foot since they can't teleport in." Mega Man informed him as they ran through the corridors and blasted the mechaniloids that got in their way.

"Treble actually listened to you?"

"Er, no, I think he was just going to do it anyway. Hey, do you have your memory zip drive with you?"

"No. I'm not going to end up like that idiot Gyro Man."

"Well, I have mine so I'll find Team 5." Mega Man stuck it in his neck. He quickly calculated where the others were. "Alright, this way. I already told the authorities about the fake anti-viruses, so we're just going to have to figure out what causes the anti-virus programs to activate and start taking control of the robots."

"Can they actually stop it?"

Mega Man's full charge blasted a gaping hole through a door so that they could bypass it, then turned back long enough to answer.

"I sure hope so...."

\\\\

Roll liked Star Man's observatory, but she had to admit that it felt weird to be there by herself. The panels were more than glass, but it was unsettling for her to have to be surrounded by the emptiness of space. Stone Man had gone off somewhere on his own, called by one of the humans. The housekeeper-bot had to wonder what exactly Stone Man did on the space station. He didn't appear to be very smart.

_Then again I guess everyone has to pick up the slack without Gravity Man and Gyro Man..._

She tried to stop thinking like that. It didn't do any good to think of the dead. Unfortunately, the only other subject to come up in her head was the fight against Cain Castle. She hoped that it was going well. While for the most part Roll always believed in her brother, a small part of her had been speaking doubts. She felt for the first time in a long time that Rock was in serious danger.

"Please let him come home safely," she prayed in a whisper. "Like he always does..."

"Hey-hey there, lonely heart!" A hyperactive voice rang out as Galaxy Man flew about the room. "What are you doing in here by yourself? Causing mischief?"

"Er...no..."

"No?" he exclaimed. "How horrible! We must begin at once! I'll tell you a little secret: Star Man doesn't like it when I'm up here, and he expecially doesn't like it when I do....this!"

Galaxy Man landed near the telescope and immediately pushed it, swinging it away from its intended coordinates. Despite herself, Roll had to laugh at this. It felt so good to be distracted from all the seriousness of the day and just be silly.

"You're horrible!" she giggled. "Star Man was trying to calculate star charts."

"Nope, I'm not! Star Man just needs to loosen up. And speaking of which, your turn, you little accessory to the crime!"

"Okay, so what do I do?"

Galaxy Man went over to the computer in the room, and he pressed a series of keys surprisingly quickly for someone with such huge hands. Roll went closer to look what he was doing, and she noticed that he had pulled up all the star charts that the opera-loving robot had been working on. The UFO-bot inserted a disc and saved the files to it, handing the disc to Roll when the process was complete. Then he deleted the files from the computer.

"Okay, now go hide it! There's a little hidden panel under that tile on the floor that Star Man thinks I don't know about. He'd never expect that his precious star charts would be there! You can't tell him about it, alright?"

"You're a bad influence on me." Roll stuck out her tounge at Galaxy Man.

"Oh hush!" he winked at her. "Now, hurry! Go and hide it so that we can leave and pretend that we were doing something else." Roll went over to the tile he indicated as he continued to speak. "The humans have invented this game that's like soccer in zero-G, and it's so much fun! We just have to try it. And when Stone Man gets done with whatever he's doing, we'll let him play too."

As Roll lifted the tile, she subconsciously looked out of the outside window. There seemed to be something odd, a sort of brownish red thing, crawling on the outside of the ship. The tile she was prying open got in the way of her being able to see it, so Roll quickly put the disc in the storage area (which seemed to be filled with nothing but books and films of little interest to her) and set down the tile. However, as soon as she reached the translucent panel again, there was nothing left to be seen. Whatever it was on the outside of the station had gone. Clef 13 flitted on her shoulder to look, but he was unable to see anything either.

"What? What are you looking at?"

"Oh nothing. I just thought I saw something out there crawling on the outside of the ship."

Galaxy Man didn't like the sound of that. His antennae wiggled, and he tried to detect any anomalies. "Hm...nothing, but I'd better take a look anyway. In these times...sorry Roll, but I'm going to have to check this out."

"I...I understand."

Galaxy Man did a short teleport over to the other side, outside of the station. He gave Roll a cheery salute before turning away and carefully hovering over the surface of the station, antennae wiggling back and forth. He got his black hole bomb ready just in case. The housekeeper-bot stopped looking. She sighed and slumped down on the floor, even going so far as to pout. That game had sounded like fun. Clef 13 tweeted curiously.

"This place is just like the lab!" she huffed. "I'm still left behind..."

Roll had to stop herself there. She had no desire to be out looking for bad guys. All the same, she was bored and more than a little lonely. Stone Man had assured her that they would be able to hang out, but things weren't turning out that way.

"You know what we should do, Thirteen?"

"Tweet?"

"We should clean!" Roll said triumphantly. "Or organize. Even space stations can be dirty places!"

Clef 13's tweets were rather less than excited, but Roll took no notice. She just led the little pipi down and out of Star Man's observatory, feeling at least a little guilty and immature for participating in Galaxy Man's antics. But she inwardly decided that she wouldn't let the prank go too far. She would tell Star Man before he got really upset.

The pipi went down the tunnel first, and then Roll climbed down the letter after him, shutting the hatch and properly locking it. Only then did a brick red and very boring face show itself, looking for inhabitants. Seeing no one, Echelon Man wandered away, heading for where the UFO-bot had gone. He paused only long enough to test his sparking weapon. Satisfied with its deadliness, he continued silently after Galaxy Man.

\\\\\\

Author's notes:

- And the first rule of Mega Man classic is: IT'S ALWAYS WILY! Lol. But of course you knew that already.

- Bah! This is driving me nuts! Fanfiction net went ghetto and suddenly took out all of the dash dividers I had been using in all my stories....now the story is artificially more confusing and I have to replace all of them with slashes. RRRRrrrrr.....

======Galaxy Man

**"Let's go to the space disco!"**

Good point: fast mind

Bad point: mischievious

Likes: complicated math, music

Dislikes: concrete

Galaxy Man was built for calculating the trajectories of rockets. He's very good at his job, though he sees it with more humor than most in his line of work. Of all the Team 9 robots, it was easiest for him to be reprogrammed by Wily, as all Wily had to do was increase his mild rascalness and lower his concern for others. It was also easy to reprogram him back, and Galaxy Man was not particularly upset by his brief stay with Wily at all. Generally nothing bothers Galaxy Man that much. While this makes it easier for him to handle life, it does make it harder for him to recognise when he is annoying other people.

Galaxy Man and Star Man didn't get along, but after Dr. Light died, Galaxy Man was assigned a permanent position on the space station, and is essentially treated as a minor member of Team 5. His annoying habits always put Star Man ill at ease, and even though the two share a love of music (different kinds), Galaxy Man's enjoyment of them was far less intellectual and dramatic. Galaxy has never understood the Team 5 robot's love of opera.

- Hey, y'all remember Harry Briggs from Proto Man's flashback? I've been trying to bring him back since How Many, because I really like the character and the fact that he is close to only Proto Man and can get the strongest reactions out of him. Yep, he worked in early robotics when Proto Man was invented, but eventually went into politics around the tail end of the MM1 events. As you see here, he's basically past his political prime. And while humorous, he's very self-absorbed.

- Have you ever stared at a word so long that it ceases to look like a word? I kept staring at "fish" and wow was that weird.

- This chapter's depressing/violent music is Back From Space, a brilliant piece. www. youtube .com /watch?v=IzOgoO2-FLs Again, pretty much for the hardcore only. Bah, nevermind, you'll like it. It fits the dark side of Mega Man. This is now dealing with some of the music that inspired this part of the story and was the reason why I wanted to try a soundtrack in the first place.


	9. Drifting, Falling

Proto Man knew what had happened. He had gotten to "Cain's" castle some time before the others had. He could hear the noise of a battle going on as he worked at the computer in the castle's computer lab, one that was much more junky and cluttered with more technological whatnot than any of Wily's labs had been. But Wily being dead, there was no reason he would attempt to make the place comfortable for his unwilling servant. Proto Man had seen the tape Wily had left for Mega Man and Bass first, through means of his usual spying techniques, and he was going to make sure that something was done about it. In fact, he had already alerted the media, and in homes all over the world people were shutting down their robots.

Now, most villians trying to complete a plan like Wily's would have been smarter. There were four anti-virus companies that Wily had created, and a better idea would have been to have different activation codes for their hidden subroutines, so that it would be harder for the good guys to stop all of the robots from becoming rebels. But Proto Man knew Wily better than he liked, so of course the evil mastermind would make all of the codes the same thing and have their activation device - whatever that was - be somewhere in the castle. The loner robot resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he searched the computer for any clue.

"SWN-005..." Blues said to himself, whispering the numbers almost silently. "So his activation device is another robot...Zero, perhaps?"

But he knew that even Wily wasn't insane enough to keep Zero anywhere in the castle. It had to be someone else. Also the trouble with Wily was that once you got to a certain point, the man was entirely undeciferable. After all, who in the world would think to build something as ridiculous as Spring Man or Pump Man, and then go on to think that those sorts of machines could defeat his brother?

_And then he goes on to pull off a scheme like this..._

Proto Man was actually impressed with Wily, that Wily would even have the patience to get revenge after the time of this death rather than before. Accompanying this was a strong sense of of disappointment in himself. If this scheme had really been going on for the past half-decade, then how come he hadn't discovered anything about it? Wily was not subtle. Had he learned to be? Certainly nobody would expect it.

Blues was fortunately not one to dwell on emotions. He had a job to do. He couldn't find any indications of what SWN-004's identity could be, but it was best that he check for any deleted files. This seemed to trip something on the computer, and in an instant everything on the monitor disappeared and was replaced by the last visage Proto Man wanted to see.

"Why hello, Proto Man! Muahahahaha!"

_Wily was expecting me?_

"I bet you are looking for the device my servants are going to use to take over all of those robots, aren't yo-"

This recording of Dr. Wily only had a short time to speak before Proto Man shot the computer to a pile of smoking bits. Listening to the recording was what Wily wanted, and he wasn't going to give in. It probably would only lead him on a wild goose chase. Immediately searching around the room for some sign of an enemy, Proto Man equipped the Sight Cannon to make sure that he would hit anyone hiding in one of the nooks of the place. But he saw only machinery. A dread began to fill him. If he had tripped that video, then he might have tripped the activation device.

Blues realized that he was using the wrong Cain weapon. He switched over to the Algorhythm Dynamo. He really had gotten little chance to use it before he had deleted it off his systems the first time. Looking at its specs, he noticed that it would be very powerful against machinery, being able to wipe out memory boards and short-circuit wires with ease. It would be perfect for destroying the lab. If he couldn't figure out what it was that really made the robots get taken over, then he would just destroy everything to be safe.

\\\\

Star Man was not happy. Several bugs were making themselves evident in his space station's computers, resulting in some strange power fluxing throughout the station. For now things were mostly under control, but if things got worse, then their orbit would decay. And that meant descent to earth, a slow death as they dissolved and burned in the atmosphere, and then the final crash into whatever unfortunate populace happened to be under them.

"I don't understand where these are all coming from." Star Man questioned. "I've triple checked my math - twice! - and yet this is happening."

"It could be some of the older software we're using." a young blonde man, about twenty-three years old, answered. "I know Colonel Pommer was talking about doing lots of upgrades later this week."

"Hm..." the Team 5 robot scratched his chin. "Well, you'd better go check the port correction engines. We can't afford massive engine failure if our experiments are going to continue."

"Right!"

The young lieutenant left the bridge of the station through the automatic doors, and as Star Man was busily investigating the computers, he barely noticed the human's exit. The systems were starting to freeze up, and this alarmed him to the point where he could acknowledge nothing else. But he did notice when massive sounds of gun blasts going off in the hallway. Star Man knew emergency procedures. He immediately slammed the door switch, and immediately signalled for the robot resistant blast doors to come down, not only in the control room, but around the station.

"This is not a drill!" he spoke into computer with complete professionality. "All human personnel evacuate now!"

Star Man was always eager to get humans off his station, so he justified his choice to call for an evacuation without looking at the station scans by saying it was a safety issue. But when he did look at the scans, he didn't regret it: the place was crawling with foreign mechaniloids. The only good news he had was that they were not the stronger kinds. Sending out transmissions to the other robots aboard, he ordered the protection of the humans as they left. It was how things went: the humans were priority. And it was Star Man's station anyway. He had no intention of leaving it, especially not to Dr. Cain. The only trouble was that the humans couldn't teleport out. They would have to go by the transport pods. At least there were a few humans on board.

_" - Stone Man! Can you reach the pods to get the humans out? - "_

_" - No from here. I'm in a different section of the ship. - "_

_" - Can you get to them? - "_

_" - I better not. I think these guys are after me. I was trying to get to the starboard orbit stablizer, but they don't seem to want to let me. - "_

Star Man looked at the station scans again. A lot of the enemy robots were after Stone Man, and also Galaxy Man, who was on the port side. This left Star Man torn. He could either protect the scientists, or abandon the bridge to the enemies.

_**BLAM!**_

"You call that firepower?" a loud voice sounded from outside the now dented heavy doors. There was no way in the world a voice that loud was human. "I'll show you firepower!"

And seconds later impact after impact hit the doors, and the Team 5 robot had to back away. Instantly he tried to lock and password protect the controls with rushed and frantic fingers, gritting his teeth in concentration. He grimaced at the door, forcing himself to work faster. But nothing seemed to work. The controls weren't working. Giving it up, Star Man went over to the door and stood ready. They weren't getting his station without a fight, and a hard one at that.

The heavy metal panels that made up the doors shredded, and for one instant Star Man realized that whatever did that could do a good deal of damage to him. But that thought dissolved as he saw who entered. He had seen the pictures in the news: this was Bullet Man, the bizarre robot with white armor who was vulnerable to napalm bombs. But Napalm Man wasn't there.

Several red mechaniloids scattered around the walls and ceiling of the room, and Bullet Man, followed by a very sinister Commando Man. But Star Man only let them enter the room far enough to get into place for his attack. Crystal Man's upgrades had made Star Man as the most powerful Team 5 robot there was. He dramatically lifted a hand to the air, then swiped it down with violent force. But certainly the force of the asteroid crash on Commando Man and the hapless mechaniloids was more violent still. Commando Man could withstand the initial rain of asteriods, but he foolishly shielded himself with his arms, not seeing the star crash that destroyed him.

Bullet Man, however, was fine.

"Come ooonnnn..." he groaned with sarcasm. "Don't any of you people have REAL firepower? Do I have to do another demonstration? I mean, I knew it was going to be easy to get into your computers after we hacked Gravity Man's coding, but I at least expected some sort of worthwhile security."

Star Man, anticipating bad things, quickly engaged his star crash as a shield. This had the unfortunate effect of making Bullet Man laugh. He charged up his power bullet, and Star Man's spirits began to sink.

Galaxy Man hummed to himself some electronic song, as techno was definitely his favorite. Cruising along the exterior of the space station, he wriggled his antennae merrily along with his hums. But he had long since stopped looking for the mystery thing that Roll had pointed out. No, he still remembered. He had stopped because he had found that thing.

It was following him.

So the space-bot hummed. Only a little anxiousness flitted about Galaxy Man's head. He wasn't afraid, or at least not very. After all, he knew this station forwards, backwards, and inside out. The notion of an inside out space station pleased him, and he imagined it with delight before puttting aside the distraction. Making sure that station was safe was more important than his musings.

Galaxy Man stopped when he was about at a point where any fight would do little damage to the station. He acted as if he was going to do a little repair work on a panel of the outer hull, keeping up his pretense until he heard a noise. It was small, but there was the distinctive "ping" of a robot's movement nonetheless.

In a flash Galaxy Man was in the "air". He landed directly behind Echelon Man, increasingly glad that he had done his research on the Cain-bots. All he had to do was get Echelon Man to split into his six pieces, then get him with the black hole bomb. Unfortunately, Echelon Man had done research as well. The boring robot remained in his boring, unibrowed, humanoid form, shooting out the Echelon heatshock in electronic nets. The were difficult to dodge, and more often than not Galaxy Man jumped out of the way, only for the electrical attack to spread out and catch him. He wasn't doing well, and his power was draining fast.

_" - Hold on! I'm coming! - "_

_" - Stone Man! - "_

And so it was. Echelon Man turned his head, only to have several small stones smack into his face. It was so comical that the other two had to laugh. Sourly, Echelon Man recontinued his attack. But this time Galaxy Man stepped back, letting Stone Man deal in the damage. The UFO-bot was stunned by their fight, and as both of them split into their pieces, he could only tell who was who by their color.

It looked like Stone Man was going to win (or so Galaxy Man thought), because he was made of many more parts than Echelon Man, and there was no way the Cain-bot could get any good hits on him. After all, hitting one of the stones wouldn't do anything, and he couldn't reach Stone Man's core computer unit. But as Stone Man was about to bring Echelon Man to rubble, the wall suddenly exploded outwards from an impact of some kind going through it. This projectile was none other than Star Man, broken and barely hanging on to conciousness as he headed out for the depths of space. Somehow this hit rammed the exact wrong way through both of the previous combatants, sending Stone Man and Echelon Man both out as well, their pieces drifting far apart.

Galaxy Man jumped into action. He shot out his black hole, and instantly the pieces of Stone Man, the only one in reach, gathered together and drifted back to the ship. His CPU core directed each fragment into its place, and the Team 5 robot once again resembled his normal self.

_" - Hang on, Star Man, I'm coming to get you. - "_ Galaxy Man signalled. _" - I think my flight abilities can last that long- - "_

_" - No, there isn't any time. Bullet Man is inside, and if he shuts off our orbit decay inhibitors, the station is going to crash into the earth. Both of you go and stop him. And if need be...destroy it. - "_

_" - But... - "_

_" - That's an order! - "_

Galaxy Man was quick to obey (just like he was quick to do everything). _ " - Okay, so we've got to stop Bullet Man, make sure all the humans are going back down, find Roll, and somehow reach the teleporter in time. Eh, Stone Man? - "_

The rock robot master was still staring off to where Star Man had drifted; he was now very distant, barely visible without engaging his zoom feature.

_" - Star Man... - "_

\\\

"Alright, Wave Man knows we're coming," Mega Man said as he and Bass ran through the halls of "Cain" Castle. "But we were cut off. Algorhythm Man must have reached them and cut off communications."

"And they can't teleport either."

"Right."

They ran faster. Knowing that the Cain-bots had been upgraded by Wily, both couldn't help but feel that Team 5 was inadequate, and that somehow Wily had prepared something nasty for them as well. But as they passed from the narrow hall into a wider room, they just saw Team 5 coming out of a pit of death spikes. Crystal Bot was already up and waiting with her pink energy crystal, having been lifted over the edge by Napalm Man. Charge Man was coming towards the edge to drop off Jewel Man, and Wave Man climbed up on his own. In fact, Rush and Treble were also there, and both of them looked very happy to see their masters.

"What, they're not here yet?" Mega Man pondered as he went to help Charge Man up. "Did they leave the castle?"

"No, we didn't."

All weapons pointed up at Algorhythm Man, who was hovering in the air to their right. But from the left came a distraction, namely the wall being torn through by Proto Man. The deft robot looked at first like he was going to crash, but he went into a roll, quickly coming upright with his shield above his head, protecting him from the direction he had just come. Epic Man peeked inwards before flying in, happy to see everyone together. He didn't want to continue to fight just yet, but he came on through and hovered on the other side of the room. This was good news for Proto Man, who was shaking. His armor was cracked in several place, and his right buster was split through.

"Blues!" Mega Man rushed over and lifted his brother to his feet. "Are you okay?"

"It's...not as bad as it looks."

Rock looked at Proto Man's buster and cringed suspicious that his brother was lying.

"Sorry we're late." Epic Man said coolly. "I just wanted to catch a little bug that was running around. You didn't really think you could sneak around without the master having prepared for just that?"

Proto Man didn't answer except with the sort of frown he reserved for only the worst of his enemies. Crystal Bot saw it and shuddered.

But Epic Man didn't. "Oh, that's fine, I don't need you to say anything. You were looking for the robot that activates the hidden programs in the robots that have Master's...'anti-virus software', yes? Well, I don't mind telling you, not at all. His name is...oh hi there, Demi. Mind helping me with something?"

The little teal robot laughed, sounding just like two sharp metal blades scraping against each other. "Certainly!"

Before anyone could react, Demi had jumped upwards onto Epic Man's back, and the two merged. Spikes rose out of Epic Man's head, running back along with his antennae, and teal stripes began to show in his midnight blue armor.

"Meet SWN-005, otherwise known as Epidemic Man!" Algorhythm Man lifted his arms in a grand fashion as he spoke. "The bringer of doom and the apocalypse!"

"I already warned the police and the government." Proto Man firmly stated. "Robots all over the world are being shut down as we speak."

Epidemic Man looked down in bemusement. "We have not been silent for the past five years simply to be stopped by some technical problem like that."

The newly formed robot sent out a signal, one that was so powerful that all the robots present glitched, including the other remaining Cain-bot.

"That's an encoded cipher signal." Crystal Bot said as she detected the signal. "It's supposed to key into a robot's established personality AI through a subliminal activated state. So basically any robot that people think is shut down, isn't. Not completely anyway. Wow, that's really impressive!"

"Shut up, Sonata." Bass muttered. "It's evil."

"It's still impressive!"

"Good, good." Algorhythm Man rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I see you still appreciate evil as an art form. Oh, Epi, you might want to show them your newest virus. After all, the sooner we carry on with the plan..."

"You're in too much of a rush, Al." Epidemic Man started to get cross with his brother. "But we must do as the master says..."

"No wait, stop!" Mega Man ran up to his enemy. "Epidemic Man! We don't have to fight! You know Wily's plan! You know that if Zero is the only robot to be left operational, then not only will you be destroyed, but you'll be completely forgotten! You can't possibly want that to happen! Please, stop this at once! You can reverse what has been done! I know you can!"

It was clear from the look on his face that Epidemic Man was affected by his words. Anger scrunched up his face, and he had to force a grin back into place. "I'm going to do my job, because I've always been here to teach humans a lesson about manipulating robots! Some day there will be a world where robots fight back if a human dares oppress them! And it will all be because of me!"

"Shut up, you idiot!" Bass snarled. "Don't even pretend for a second that you would die for your retarded principles! You're just a sick tool of Wily! Now stop trying to control the robots and maybe I won't kill you...maybe."

"Oh, _you_..." Epidemic Man's voice lowered into a tone of disgust. "You who threw away the blessing of the most powerful, logical mind in robotics! You have no idea what it is like to be built by a loser, a poser! And you threw your opportunity away! If you had been more obedient and less of a failure then maybe none of this would be happening! I admit I don't like my fate, but I'll relish it gladly if it means the end of ungrateful," here he turned to Mega Man. "and naiive machines that bother calling themselves heroes! And now witness the greatest virus that the mighty Dr. Albert Wily has ever created!"

With a wave of his hand...nothing much happened.

Mega Man turned to the others, and they appeared confused, also looking around to see if anything happened. The blue bomber couldn't even sense anything. Bass shrugged. Proto Man didn't have a wireless adaptor, so whatever it was couldn't affect him. Rock turned back to Epidemic Man, and he was still grinning.

"Ha!" Napalm Man pointed his finger (he was still after all this time excited to have hands) at the Cain-bot in mockery. "Wily's stupid virus didn't work!"

Mega Man wasn't so sure, and he glanced over at a very quiet member of their group. "Crystal Bot, are you okay?"

He said this because the girl-bot was looking down at the floor, and she seemed a bit confused about something. But she smiled slightly, and began to lift her head slowly. "Hehehe...muahahahahaaHAHAA - oh bother, I was never good at evil laughs. I'm too much of a little girl."

Wave Man approached her in fear. "The virus did something to you? Please tell me you're alright."

"I'm fine. You, not so much."

And she smacked her leader in the side with her pink crystal rod, shattering his side and breaching his water core. Furious, Bass started to grab her arm, but was forced to stop when the pink crystal was shoved in his face, glowing slightly. Bass backed up a couple of steps. When stabilized, her crystal was an instant death spike, and Bass was not safe from it."

"Forte, Father says I'm supposed to let Zero kill you. Ironic, isn't it?" Crystal Bot lowered the weapon and began walking towards Epidemic and Algorhythm Man, slapping the rod up and down in her hand with a great smacking noise. "And the same goes for you too, little blue dweeb. Besides, you're both very clever and Father says it's best that a better fighter takes you down. After all, you might find a way to beat me - I'm hardly a soldier - and then get me back. Not that you could rid me of this virus, but I'd much rather live than be stuck with you forever trying to figure out how."

Crystal Bot, now several feet from the others, turned to face them. Algorhythm Man and Epidemic Man came down and stood at each side of her.

"I don't understand..." Jewel Man said slowly. "Crystal Man couldn't have had anything to do with this..."

"Crystal Man? Crystal Man?" the girl-bot shuddered in disgust, almost fearing that simply saying his name would somehow taint her. "That traitorous fool was no father of mine. He merely had an idea. It was Wily that made me into what I am today! He made me smart! If it were up to Crystal Man I'd be two feet high and schizophrenic! Only because of the great Wily am I intelligent! Don't speak that name to me again!"

"But Crystal," Mega Man was only getting more frightened for her. "Wily will kill you too in the end!"

The girl scowled at him, but her lip trembled a bit, and she giggled. She couldn't help it. "Oh, dweebie, you're so cute! So adorable! Aww. You really should have given up when Father was doing his other schemes. Then you could be my cute little brother! Too late for that now, though. But no, even though I was a bad girl - I was so disobedient! But Father forgives me, because he loves me. And of course Lord Zero will need a technician. Who else but me? Especially since all the other people are all going to die! But I will live!"

Her gaze fell on Bass next, who had only been growing more angry over the past few minutes, and his level of rage was only growing. She smiled fondly, but not at him. She was reflecting.

"Ah, Forte. Did I really waste so much of my life working on you? Lord Zero truly is the best robot there is, and what are _you _in comparison to him? You're so blunt, inartistic. And you pretend to read those dull philosophies to make yourself sound smart. Ha! What good are you?" She folded her arms smugly. "But at least that armor I made is advanced. I'm sure Lord Zero will appreciate all of the things I've learned in the past few years. It's going to be so much fun to work on him! Eeeee! Oh, speaking of Zero, boys, we're going to have to activate him soon. You have the device, yes?"

"Certainly, my lady!" Algorhythm Man chirped. "We can - "

Before he realized it, Crystal Bot had him by the chin, and she was inspecting his eyes. The orange and neon robot glitched slightly, unable to stare back into the eyes that were so intensely inspecting his own. But after a moment, she let him go.

"You have data damage. You killed Gravity Man, didn't you?"

Algorhythm Man stepped back, fearfully lifting his hands before him as if preparing to beg for his life. "Ah...yes...that I did..."

"Good." Her words made the Cain-bot sigh with relief. "I was getting tired of him anyway. Barely a technician, and definitely a weakling."

Charge Man was holding Wave Man, trying to figure out how badly the loss of his internal water would affect him, and the situation was making him turn red. "Hey Crystal, you hurt Wave Man pretty bad! Don't you even care about your leader at all? What happened to you?"

Crystal Bot rolled her eyes, flipping a bit of her hair back in boredom. "Before you both go out to lead your forces on the more specific objectives, destroy these things here. Oh, and destroy my lab. As much as I like it, there's too much in there that might be of some use to them."

"Alright, alright, that's enough." Bass stepped forward. "You're right about Crystal Man being a traitor, so - Crystal Bot reset! Five, two-nine-one!"

"ARRGH!" Crystal Bot's head snapped forward as if with pain, and she clutched it with trembling hands. When she stood up again, she was ready to kill. "What? Impossible!"

"That's right, Crystal Man - your _real creator_ - included a code so that I could control you. He was that afraid of you being taken back by Wily. Or did you forget that message he hid on your hard drive? So my first order is this, tell these goons to shut down whatever the crap they're doing to the other robots."

"No good!" Epidemic Man announced, not entirely unhappy with the circumstances. "Once started, it can't be stopped. Wily engineered it that way just for you!"

Bass growled. "FINE. Sonata, just fight this virus. I know your systems too well, and there's no way in the world any stupid virus Wily made could take you over that quickly. Just fight it. I know you can beat it."

Forced by the hidden subroutine, Crystal Bot seethingly obeyed. Her entire body shook from the effort as her mind fought itself, one side working its hardest to defeat the other.

"I can't beli-eve you...you took thi-s from m-e!" The girl-bot started to sink to the ground as her motor functions began to fail. "I was g-oing to wo-rk for a **real **cha-mpion! D-die!"

Crystal Bot pulled out her pink crystal, trying to stabilize it. But that was just no longer a possibility. The fight going in her mind drained away all of her power, and she fell limp on the floor. Her eyes remained open, twitching this way and that as they remained the only sign that she was still activated.

"Well!" Epidemic Man exclaimed brightly, like a person just energized from a long sleep. "So that leaves you with three choices, Mega Man, you can either go out there and attempt to save as many humans as you can before the rampaging machines kill them, or you can go into that room there and see the teleporter that we used to send robots to the space station and bring it down - "

"ROLL!" Mega Man exclaimed, starting to run for the door. "Bass, please stop them!"

"Or THREE! You can stop me and my army from destroying your friends here!"

The last speaker was Psycho Man, the sick clown robot with the thin, metal legs and permanently detached but hovering arms appeared right in front of Mega Man, standing in his way. He wasn't alone, either. Spark Man and Pump Man came in from the left, both testing their weapons as they neared the good guys. Clown Man swung in from the right, and below him Burner Man let loose his jet streams of flame. And since Wave Man's water wave was incapacitated, they didn't have a weapon that could douse the fire.

"Concrete Man!" Jewel Man exclaimed. "Not you too!"

"Come on, Jewels." the tall, Guts Man-like robot said. "It's better this way, to die fighting."

"This has been entertaining, but you know, we have an army to run!" Epidemic Man continued, and he waved at everyone. "This world's humans have made a tragic error in choosing mechanized soldiers over ones of their own kind! But allow Psycho Man and his new friends to entertain you while we run. Toodles!"

"Ugh!" Algorhythm Man cringed in joking disgust. "'Toodles'? You have got to come up with a better way to say good-bye than that!"

"I thought it was nice."

"Ha ha, you have no taste!"

The two Cain brothers teleported out.

\\\

Roll ran through the halls in fear. It was lucky for her that none of the mechaniloids seemed that interested in her, and as she ran past all they would bother to do is reach out a mechanized arm in her direction. But she was still going, following Clef 13 as he led the way to the super teleporter. Escape was the only thing Roll could think to do, as she had no real postion on the station and could help no one. But fortunately most of the humans had been able to escape, and Roll was especially glad that she hadn't run into the bodies of anyone who hadn't. So she kept running.

With a horrid, off-key tweet and a _thunk_, the housekeeper-bot knew that something was wrong. She ducked back behind the passage she had just come out of, but there was no use to it. She knew this at once when she saw what had happened to 13. A shadow blade had him pinned to the wall, and if Shadow Man was there...

_What good am I?_ she screamed to herself with pure terror.

Frightfully she backed away as Shadow Man emerged. Though invisibility was impossible, it did seem like Shadow Man had that ability. Tripping backwards, Roll frantically reached around for anything she could use as a weapon. But on the floor of the dining room there was nothing in reach; even the chairs were bolted to the floor.

Shadow Man approached her, pulling three shadow blades out from nowhere and holding them up for her to see. Roll crawled backwards as if her frantic scrambling could save her. There was no hope of her teleporting away, as the teleportation network was already down, and it wouldn't get her off the station. But she knew there was hope, and she could feel something in the pocket of her dress. Quickly she stuck her fingers around it, but not quickly enough. The three blades whizzed toward her, and she snapped her eyes shut.

When she opened them again, Roll was not in the dining room, but in a reception area next to the super teleporter. Losing no more time, she ran to the next room, pushing the appropriate buttons.

"Hey, what are you doing there?"

Roll looked up to see Commando Man standing at the door, cannons at the ready. With a whining sound from each of his arms, the hulking robot prepared to fire. There was not other choice; Roll ran for it. Behind her, the console shattered to bits, but she knew the super teleporter would still work at its current coordinates without it, so she jumped in and hit a large red button, hoping she was fast enough.

\

_" - Alright, I've got the system locked down. If those Team 5 idiots want their station back, well too bad! - " _Bullet Man, still in the main control room, sent an encoded signal to all of his strike team members. _" - Now tell me what you've been doing. Are the port and starboard orbit stabilizers down? - "_

_" - Echelon Man contacted me when the port stabilizer was shut down - " _Shadow Man replied. _" - But i haven't heard from him since. As for my own actions, Doctors Bain and Cartwright are dead. Some of the humans managed to get away, but none of the specified targets. - "_

Bullet Man cursed to himself. He couldn't care less about any of the humans, and if Shadow Man found himself on the wrong end of a plasma cannon, what did that matter to him? But Echelon Man was family. Maybe Wily had upgraded him (and nicely done, at that), but he still couldn't muster up any concern for Wily's own creations.

_" - I got the starboard stabilizer! - " _Commando Man signalled in. _" - And I got Roll! She tried to get away in the super teleporter, but then I blew it up! - "_

_" - MORON! - " _Bullet Man wished that Commando Man were physically present so that he could receive the full force of his words. _" - Incompetent! Imbecile! That was our way off of this vessel of doom! Don't you know anything? Don't you remember the plan? - "_

_" - Uh...sorry? - "_

"GRRRRRRR..." Bullet Man punched a computer, pretending that it was Commando Man's face. _" - Okay, you morons, get here to the command center. If we do this right, we just might survive. Even if the outer hull of this station burns, we're not high enough in orbit for it to burn to ash completely before it crashes into New York. When it does, we'll get out of the ship and attack any survivors, pretending that that's what we PLANNED on doing. Got it? - "_

_" - Got it! - "_

_" - If I were you, I would think a little more carefully before referring to me as a moron again. - "_

_" - Just shut up and get over here, Shadow Man. - " _

_" - Hey guys, I think there's a problem with your plan. - "_

Bullet Man froze. That was Galaxy Man's voice on the line. _" - How did you get on this frequency? It was encoded! - " _

_" - This is Star Man's station, and he makes sure that it stays that way. And he wouldn't like your notion of crashing this station into New York, no he wouldn't, not at all! - "_

Stone Man joined in next. _" - Even after all that we have become, we're still Wily's creations. And that means at least one thing: we put self-destruct functions in everything we build. This place will burn long before it hits the ground. - "_

_" - So I suppose this means you ARE a moron, Shadow Man. - " _Bullet Man hissed bitterly. _" - But so are you two traitors as well. I've locked you out of the system. There's no way you could possibly activate the self-destruct now! - "_

_" - Do you really think we would tell you about it before we set it off? Or that you could even lock us out of it? - "_

The Cain-bot rushed over back to the computer and began to push buttons. It didn't take long for him to find a small timer, and it was counting back from one minute and twenty seconds. Reopening the system, he began to type as fast as he could, trying to figure out some way to make it stop and sending frantic transmissions to get the other two to do the same.

Outside, Echelon Man's eyes opened. He had somehow reformed back into his humanoid form, and was now flying gently through space. The station was far from him now, and a quick check of his systems warned him that the fuel for his six parts wasn't enough to get him back to his allies. Having very little personality AI to work with, It was difficult for the brick red robot to muster up any sympathy for himself. He wasn't sure he wanted to, in any case. His existence had been an unnotable one, one of complete obedience to his master. First Cain, then Wily. There was nothing particularly remarkable about it. Or Echelon Man didn't think so.

Flying. That was what he had always liked to do. And now that it was happening, to fall from such a great distance, he found himself contented. Happy, even. Falling to Earth would certainly cause his death, as his metal armor was not designed for dealing with the intense friction that sinking into the atmosphere naturally dealt. But he didn't mind this. Why was that such a big deal? After all, now he could be at peace. He could gaze one last time on the things below before his eyes burned out, and die in a way that he felt was perfect. It was his freedom, as he was no longer held to any master. Echelon Man stared at the earth, and he wished that he was an artist of some sort that could appreciate it more.

_" - Eat asteroid, jerk! - "_

And Echelon Man knew too late that Star Man had also regained conciousness. But the instant after he realized this, he was gone. A plasma rock from Star Man's buster went through his head, and he continued his fall downwards as rubble. Star Man bitterly floated along, and he got one last look at the space station before it blew to bits in a ball of fire, and with it Star Man's hope. He knew how futile it was, but some part of him wished that a shuttle would come pick him up, and Stone Man, or even that annoying Galaxy Man, would come and tell him that everything was alright and he could have his station back.

It wasn't to be. The flying rubble that coursed past him told him that, and there was nothing he could do but send a transmission down to earth of what had transpired. It would take several minutes to reach the ground, but it would reach. That done, Star Man looked once more out into space. He had dreamed all his life of living in the stars. And he had been able to do so for a short time, during the Dark Man scheme. After Mega Man defeated him, he spent the next several years building castles for Wily. When he had become a good guy, he shared his station with humans, but it was still his station. For once he thought he could have his dream come true, and yet it made perfect sense that it didn't.

_Of course all the best operas end in tragedy!_

Star Man looked out at the constellations, lovingly recalling their names. He could even see Venus in the background. But gravity even at that distance still had its hold on him, and he could feel its evil arm pulling him back to the noise, dullness, and obligation of solid earth. Star Man refused to look back at the planet. He would never look at it ever again, never acknowledge it and the unbreakable chains it had on him.

_" - And I shall here burn with the ashes of my dreams... - "_

There was no point in waiting for himself to burn out. Star Man powered down.

\\

It was an ugly battle. Though the new combatants weren't too difficult alone, together they proved to be something else entirely. Before Burner Man was put out of commission, both Napalm Man and Proto Man were badly hurt; it didn't help that Wave Man's water wave wasn't operational. Napalm Man didn't survive, and Wave Man fell at the hands of Spark Man. Charge Man managed to get the electric bot, but Clown Man was too agile and got the best of him.

Bass was already weakened by fighting Algorhythm Man before, but from how he was fighting you could never tell. It was Psycho Man causing the most damage, and the dark robot was determined to do something about it, especially since he had already exhaused Mega Man's epic win, the robot's weakness. The crazy clown robot was an expert at dodging, especially now that he was upgraded Wily-style, and he had turned his floating arms into a little miniature clown again, and with both sides fighting Bass at once, this fight was much more intense than his first one with the robot.

"Bass," Mega Man shouted. "Look out behind you!"

Concrete Man was looking to get in his shot, and if he hit Bass, then Psycho Man would have little trouble finishing him off. Bass swung around to shoot, blocking the attack, but didn't see Psycho Man's mini clown pop up from behind him. But Treble was ready. He jumped up and grabbed it by the neck with his maw, swinging it around furiously. But the clown started to laugh, and three laughs in, it blew up. The purple wolf was no more. There was nothing left of his face but burnt, twisted metal, and his remains smacked into the floor.

"Treble!"

Seeing the rage of Bass, Psycho Man laughed. "Fair's fair! You destroy my clown, I destroy your dog. We're even!"

"I'll KILL YOU!"

Bass fired off his double busters, and Mega Man ignored the dark robot's pride as he too joined in. But Psycho Man, seeing that all of his allies were dead, wasn't interested in continuing.

"Two versus one, that just won't work! Looks like I'm done, see you later, jerks!"

And he teleported out. Running over to the remains of Treble, Bass desperately tried to figure out if he could be saved. Unfortunately, the CPU of the wolf was very close to his mouth, and most of it was now blackened.

Meanwhile, Rock had his own ally to check on. He ran to the back room, and there indeed was another super teleporter, this one looking a lot more crude than the one he had in his lab. Running to the control panel on the side, Mega Man checked the side and desperately started hitting keys. But the computer wasn't picking up any space station at all. It was gone.

"Roll..." Mega Man leaned over the control panel and began glitching harder than he ever had in his life. He would never see his sister again, and it was all his fault. "Rolll!"

/

Author's notes:

- This is one of the chapters I've had in my head for a long time. I hope you liked it. Sorry it's so late, but I had two blackouts, and the cord to my laptop died. Fortunately, there are alternate computers, and this extra-long chapter should make it up for you.

=======Concrete Man

**"Let's go to work!"**

Good point: Hard worker

Bad point: strict supervisor

Likes: sculptures

Dislikes: lazy people

That's the trouble with MM9 robots. Other than Splash woman, they don't seem to have as much personality as the characters from other games, and if it weren't for Crystal Bot, Jewel Man's part would be much smaller. But I do like how Concrete Man is next in a line of Guts Man rip offs. Guts Man throws boulders, Stone Man is a bunch of rocks, and Concrete Man grinds rocks to a pulp for cement. It's like a progression. Anyway, I really wish my story had more parts for the MM9 robots, especially since they belong to Dr. Light. One person in particular I wanted to show was Tornado Man, who I feel should be the leader of MM9's robots if they ever worked together. But whatevs.

Concrete Man, in my head, was changed a lot in his personality when Wily switched him to evil. Normally he's a very straightforward robot, bordering on blunt, and he likes few things more than a job well done. But evil, he likes nothing more than torturing people and making sculptures from them.

- The depressing songs for this chapter are Ti Siento and Major Tom, two songs that get more depressing the more you listen to them. And you can do so here: www. youtube. com /watch?v=sEmG6w-KFno www. youtube. com /watch?v=VW0_kTYvARc

- So did you figure out what I was going to do with Epic Man and Demi before I mentioned it here? Lol, you don't even have to rearrange any of the letter to get "epidemic" from them either. I was planning this for a long time.

- Sound doesn't travel in space, so the robots have to send transmissions to talk in space.

- Notedly, technically we don't know who built the MM10 robots, but since at the end credits they're listed as DWN, I'm going to maintain that they're Wily's and that he simply used them to trick Mega Man into thinking that the roboenza crisis was not his doing (and also earn him money by means of their side jobs). Also, I'd like to point out that I'm going with the Mega Man story of MM10 as canon, mainly because Bass' story end is confusing and we never really learn why he bothered to fight the MM10 robots in the first place.

- Bass is SWN-001, Treble is SWN-002, King is SWN-003, and the never built King II was supposed to be SWN-004. Or so I'm going to say, because all they really ever tell us is Bass' number. Wait, if Rush doesn't have a number, would Treble?


	10. Miserable Interlude

Back at the lab, Auto was busily looking apprehensively over at the wreckage of Napalm, Wave, and Charge Man. The other four heroes had brought back their bodies in the hopes they could be repaired, and immediately afterwards ran back out to rescue as many of the humans as they could. Monstropolis itself was so far untouched, but no one was fooled. Wily would surely destroy it at one point or another, and Auto believed that was what Zero intended to do. All the humans were evacuated, as Mega Man, Proto Man, Jewel Man, and Bass defended them.

These four, however, had fought their hardest. Even the best fighters took hits, and they were worn out as far as they could be without serious injury. After all, if they were too hurt, then there would be nothing they could do if special parts had to be ordered. In this nightmare no delivery would get through.

One of the monitors was on, and it was showing a news station, and surprisingly, no robot had bothered to destroy it.

"As of 9:15 this evening," the human reporter began. "All robots with ArmorCore, Light Subsidiary, and Hitenshi Firewall anti-virus programs have now gone berserk. We are also recieving reports that the world's military robots are also compromised. Everyone should remain in their homes and get into their basements or panic rooms. Don't try to resist the robots or attract attention to yourself. While most of the robots' acts are disorganized vandalism, there are some organized robots working together to destroy specific targets.

"There are a few robots left that didn't install a public anti-virus program, including local hero Mega Man. However, these few can only do so much. We have some good news from Dr. Cossack, who reports that after a random period of time, the robots' minds will shut down due to a mind-deletion program in each of their CPUs. It is apparent that this last scheme from Wily is intended to be the end of robotics as we know it. People are already referring to it as the Robot Apocalypse..."

"Auto...?"

The robot turned to look over at Roll, who had been shaky ever since her narrow escape from the space station.

"Can I shut off the news?" The girl-bot wandered into the room, not sure if she could even stand to see Team 5 they way they were. "I...I don't think I can stand it."

"Go ahead."

With relief, Roll went over to the console and pushed the button, and the image of the newscaster faded away. Roll was glad she was a robot. She knew she would be nauseous if she had the ability. Everything was simply too much for her.

"Roll!"

She whipped around, knowing the voice calling out to her. The three fighters were back, and they looked terrible. But Rock was glad to see her, and from his place holding on to Jewel Man's shoulder, he tried to run forward, only to trip on his broken foot armor. Roll was there in only a moment, and she embraced her brother almost as tightly as he held her.

"Roll...I'm so sorry!"

It was the appointed time, and all three of the remaining Cain-bots met together at the rubble that was once an apartment complex in Queens, New York. There was a tinge of worry to the meeting, and all of them were impatient. Psycho Man was still annoyed at the loss of his arms, and he kicked his thin, metal legs to clear the broken bricks away. And Algorhythm Man was indeed having problems in his data base. Every so often a glitch would randomly affect a finger or a facial feature, though overall he seemed in control as he leaned against a wall.

Epidemic Man was definitely the happiest of the bunch. He liked being combined with Demi, and he liked how much spikier his design had become. For the fun of it, he fired off a torpedo at an old doghouse, and its explosion was large and satisfactory. His laugh rang out, and it sounded remarkably more rusty and dark than before.

"If we could focus." Algorhythm Man said with emphasis, catching his brothers' impatient attentions. "We do have a problem we're going to have to deal with."

"Oh yes," A bored Epidemic Man picked up a rock and started scratching random doodles into it. "We're not on the plan. Oh whoop-dee-doo. We were allowed certain...liberties with it. No need to have to stick to it like a fly on sticky paper."

"Hee hee, the truth speaks Epi!" Psycho Man, now that he cleared away the rocks, had the room to spin a bit. "Everyone needs wiggle room!"

"Shut up, Psych." Algorhythm Man muttered. "Look, Wily wanted us to get the girl, then activate Zero once all the world was in an uproar. We need to get Crystal Bot back."

"What? And have them come look for her again?" Epidemic Man retorted. "Bass has that failsafe, and none of us are programmers. She's as good as gone. Wily did say that she wasn't entirely necessary to the plan. The old beast had just a touch of softness in his heart for her, and now there's nothing we can do. It's not our fault."

"Okay, so why haven't we let loose Zero then? He is the most important part of the plan. And the earth is in chaos, just like Wily wanted for his arrival."

"Oh, are you so infatuated with that doctor?" Epidemic snapped, coming close enough to Algorhythm to smack him.

"You seemed infatuated enough when he upgraded us!" The orange and neon robot shoved a finger in his brother's face. "I'm just following this stupid programming that he put in my head! You were the one that didn't leave when we had the chance - I wanted to break away and get out of there, and now look at us! You said it would be better with Wily! We'll die like the rest!"

"NO, WE WON'T!" The elder Cain-bot refused to give in, and the rock he was holding crumbled in his hands. "Listen to me! We would have been dead before now if we hadn't stayed to serve Wily! I knew what we were doing! So relax! Sheesh. You're getting Psych all worked up."

Psycho Man didn't seem to be paying attention, but his attention span was generally terrible anyway. He was starting to get bored, and Epidemic Man started to throw rocks at him. The clown-bot liked practicing to dodge.

Algorhythm Man just sighed as his brothers continued with the rocks. "Okay, so fine, what do we do now?"

Epidemic Man kept throwing whatever rubbish he could find as he spoke. "What you don't realize is this: losing the girl is much to our advantage. While she technically isn't required to fufill Wily's main objectives, her part in it is large enough so that we're not fully on track. Do you realize what this means? It means that we can improvise. It means that the parameters have changed so that we have to adapt to them."

"I think by adapt, Wily would mean fetch Crystal Bot-"

"Oh, bother the girl!" Epidemic Man threw an especially large cluster of bricks and cement at Psycho Man, and his psycho pulse shredded through it. "It's not like we can do anything to get her on our side again. Put her out of your mind, so far as 'rescue' goes. She'll have to be destroyed now, probably, and you know it. We can adapt, and our programming will allow us to get out of activating Zero right away-"

"-And so we won't have to be killed by him!" Algorhythm Man stood up from the wall in excitement.

"Now you get it!"

"And if we are of that fate free," Psycho Man kicked the next brick out of Epidemic Man's hand, as he was getting bored of that game. "What of us become will be?"

"Oh, Psych, that was a terrible rhyme!"

"Bah, I give up!" the bug-eyed Cain-bot wished that he could shrug. "But still, I want to play lots of games! Will we still play games with the puny human people?"

"The problem here is that we still are forced to finish this scheme of Wily's." Algorhythm Man noted. "And that means, adapting or no, we're going to have to activate Zero at some point."

"Yes..." Epidemic Man thought out carefully. "For the first part, we have a few other objectives left. One, there are still a few scientists alive. The only one I'm really that concerned about is Cossack, and for the rest we've already destroyed so much data that no one will ever learn to build sentient robots again. Two, there's that Mega Man and his laboratory."

"Oh yes, one of us is going to have to deal with the invincible robot." the Algorhythm Man remarked dryly.

"No robot is invincible!" The leader rebuked him, eyeing his brother with irritation. "It's only a matter of intelligence, something that has been sorely lacking in the blue bomber's enemies. I have a bit of a trick, which I'll use once I finish my other objectives. It's rather simple, but we can't all have fancy adventures."

"You didn't answer my question!" Psycho Man protested. "Will we still play games with the puny human people?"

"Ha ha, yes, Psych. You get to take down Cossack. Remember, that was your part of the plan."

Algorhythm Man was starting to get the idea of what his brother was trying to do. "So you're saying that we can complete our objectives and be free after that? Very well. But what of Zero? We can't destroy the activation device without being destroyed ourselves."

"Heh. That part is simple, dear brother. We get someone to destroy it for us. I already have a plan. You should trust your brother." Epidemic Man turned to his long-legged sibling and spoke up in a more jovial tone. "Well then, Psych, what say we play some more games, okay?"

"Alright! Time to see how many little bugs I can squish!" Psycho Man cheered.

"I just wish Dr. Cain were here." Algorhythm Man mentioned as the three started to leave. "Or anyone that can repair us, really."

"Ah yes, bit of tragedy, that." Epidemic Man said. "And he had to choose an awfully messy way to go. I'm just thankful that those do-gooders blew up the castle so that we didn't have to clean it. Not that you would catch me doing such a thing in any case. But don't fear too much for a repair. As long as our CPUs are intact, we can always force a mechaniloid technician to keep us in shape, worst come to worst. And don't be so glum. After all, you're going to get that fight with Fish soon."

"Hm, now that I don't mind. And I guess since Zero won't be showing up, I'll get to defeat him myself...somehow. He's rather tough, you know."

"We stole some nice things from those backwoods countries we ran into." Psycho Man pointed out. "You might find them useful!"

"Perhaps I will."

The three remaining Cain-bots walked together out of the shredded neighborhood, still talking about their next plans. They didn't bother worrying if anyone would hear them, as this neighborhood had long been destroyed, and any humans in it were either dead or fled, with no plans for returning.

Things were gloomy at Light Laboratories. Roll was beginning to wish that she had more technical experience: Auto had his hands full with trying to fix everyone. Wave Man, Charge Man, and Napalm Man were lying off to the side rather than on any repair tables, as they were beyond repair. Their back-ups had been on the space station, and guilt filled Roll as she thought of it. And no matter how much she told herself that she didn't know where to find them, if she could even access them, or if she could have left the station in time if she had gotten them, the guilt still came.

Fortunately the running around was helping her keep her mind off of that. Not that the work itself wasn't depressing enough. Proto Man was shut down in an automatic machine, and when he had arrived on Rush, he was far too broken and weary to protest the help of his siblings. But according to Auto, he would be fine enough when he was repaired. Roll gently touched his hand before she went off to bring a spare part for Jewel Man.

The bejeweled robot himself was fine, or mostly. The damage done to the exhausted Jewel Man's armor could be repaired, but at the moment nothing could be done for the large chip in his shiny gem head. But as crooked and cringeworthy as it looked, this was nothing compared to his expression, which would break anyone's heart to see. He was standing by Crystal Bot's repair table, letting Dub finish some wiring errors in his back as he watched over her. She wasn't hurt so bad physcially, but the virus was still taking its toll on her system. Her eyes remained wide open, darting back and forth aimlessly as the only sign that something was still going on in her mind.

"Auto...will she be okay?" Roll asked.

"I don't know." Auto answered as he typed away at the computer above Proto Man's machine. "That virus was designed to work specifically with the new model mind that Dr. Light invented, and it turns the recipient automatically loyal to the key virus source: Zero. It works within a robot's personality AI to change it for evil. There's nothing I can do to help her, that I know of. If she can't fight this off herself..."

"You're saying that...that X could get this virus?" she timidly asked.

Auto heaved his heavy shoulders as he grabbed a wrench. "Knowing Wily, it was probably designed for him."

But Roll didn't want to think like that. She couldn't stand it, and even the sound of Auto's depressed voice was too much for her. Her pitying glance went over to Bass. Out of all the robots, his injuries were the least serious, so he was waiting in a chair for his turn at an automated machine, plugged into the wall so that the computer could do a damage asessment. Just because he was the best off, however, did not mean that he was alright. The left side of his helmet was cracked, and a few tufts of his blonde hair could be seen underneath. And his legs looked like they were going to completely fall off.

"Bass," Roll approached him with uncertainty. "Auto will be able to get your repairs going in a couple of minutes."

"Mm."

"Um...Sonata brought over some of your spare parts earlier, so we can replace your helmet and legs with no problem."

"Mm."

Roll was scared to press him further. Part of her wanted him to say something, as she was worried about him. He hadn't said anything more than a few grunts since he had gotten back. But at the same time, he was seething, staring at the floor. Every once in a while he would twitch from some evil thought that passed through his mind, and Roll had to step away. Seeing the darkness of his attitude reminded her of why she had been afraid of Bass when she first learned of his existence.

Everywhere she looked there was grief. Mega Man, the passionate fighter, was by far the worst of all of them. He was still concious as the automated machine did its work, and he was searching the internet news for anything that might be of some use to him. The thought that millions of innocents all over the globe were being attacked by robots while he was laying there on the table useless tormented him. In his mind, each second he spent getting repaired was another person he couldn't save. By far this was much more frightening than Bass.

Rush seemed to think so. The little dog, himself freshly repaired, when with tail down and many whimperings over to the dark robot, cautiously approaching. He sniffed at Bass' hand, whimpering and nudging him with his nose. Bass looked up with narrow, exhausted eyes.

"DON'T, Rush." Bass hissed at the dog. "Just don't..."

The red dog back away and whined, his ears drooping even lower than before. He went to go find a secluded corner to go hole up in and have a cry. He didn't understand why Bass had to be that way. Treble was his friend too. Crawling in a small, empty space behind a computer, Rush put his front paws over his eyes and tried to cry as quietly as he could manage.

Bass looked over to where the Team 5 casualties were, and there was the now faceless Treble, one of them. Clenching his jaw, Bass looked down again. Treble had been his best friend since he was built, and the wolf had known him better than anyone else. Treble was the only one Bass felt safe talking to, and there were many secrets that only the two of them had known. If his sheer rage hadn't been keeping him under control (and the fact that there were so many Light-bots around), then he wasn't sure he wouldn't be glitching his eyes out. They had been far closer than he and Sonata had been.

Testing his temper, the dark robot let his eyes wander to the table that now held Crystal Bot. She was still twitching randomly, though from time to time it seemed like she was calling out - to him or whoever else he couldn't guess. Moments later she would be grinning faintly in an altogether unpleasant way, and it disgusted him. But both expressions faded away, leaving Crystal Bot blank, still other than her frantic eyes.

The poor girl-bot. All she wanted to do was help. As annoying as she was, Bass hoped she would somehow be alright. As good as he had said her CPU was, inwardly he had to admit that he was unsure. He didn't know how strong the virus was, and he did know how vengeful his hated creator could be. There was no telling if she would ever be free. Bass looked at the monitor beside him. His damage assessment was done so he pulled out the cord and limped over in her direction, his right hip joint screeching as he forced it along.

"You stay away from her."

Bemused, looked over to see Jewel Man glaring at him, his face contorted in either grief or hate; Bass didn't care to tell which. He kept moving.

"Shut up, Top Man."

"I mean it!" Jewel Man snapped, getting everyone's attention. "Don't get anywhere near her!"

"Hey, what's going on?" Mega Man was able to pull himself into a sitting position.

Jewel Man ignored the question and stayed focused on the half-incredulous Bass (the other half was pissed off). "You're the one responsible for this! You always got her into dangerous situations, and quite frankly I'm surprised that something like this hasn't happened before. And now this, and there's nothing that we can do to save her!"

"She always knew how dangerous it was." Bass' growl was a warning. "And besides, I did stop her from being another slave of Wily's so back off."

"If it weren't for you then she wouldn't be in that situation in the first place!"

"You didn't stop her!"

"I know! I know..." Jewel Man quieted some. But only a moment later the bitter lines on his face reappeared, and he snapped, "After the _great_ job you did protecting Imahara and Alyosha, you'd think I would know better! You've been nothing but useless since this whole scheme started!"

"Jewel Man, don't start an argument." Mega Man insisted as he got up from the table and waved away Auto's protests. "We've all made mistakes, and you're not helping things any."

"Not helping? You mean like Bass?"

The bejeweled Light-bot was far from giving up, and as Bass neared he got up out of his chair and engaged his shield, blocking Bass' path. Folding his arms, he silently dared Bass to try and get around him. The subject of his hate stared with incredulity, throwing up his hands.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"YOU!" Jewel Man shouted in reply. "What have you ever done that means anything? You let Dr. Imahara die in the dumbest way possible, and you were utterly helpless stopping Ring Man from killing Dr. Polovstiansky! _ Ring Man_! I could beat that idiot twice with my eyes closed, and _you're_ supposed to be the greatest robot ever? And then, the worst thing you could have possibly done is not tell Rock about Zero from the very beginning! He could have found the real Zero and destroyed him! But you're so useless and arrogant that now any moment he could show up and make things worse than they already are!"

"Stop it, now!" Mega Man said, and if everyone hadn't been worried that Bass was going to retaliate, then they would have seen Mega Man angrier than he had ever been to date. "Arguing about it won't get us anywhere! We're all a team now, and that means we're going to have to trust each other!"

But Jewel Man just shook his head. He spoke to Rock, but his insipid glare was directed straight at Bass. "That day when Wily set Bass' self destruct...you should have let him _die_."

Everyone gasped. Even Jewel Man flinched a bit after he said it, though other than that he refused to waver. Roll's first instinct was to hide, but as she glanced over at Bass, she wondered why he was so quiet. It was because something amazingly terrible had happened. It was amazing because no one ever thought it was possible. And simply what it was was terrible: Bass ran out of ego. It was bad enough that his technician was incapacitated, and dealing with his best friend's death (for his protection, no less) had only torn up all but the last shreds of his hope. And Jewel Man had no way of knowing how guilty he felt about the doctors he had failed to save. Everything together was too much for him, and it wiped his normally relentless ego hollow.

All of this showed. The dark robot's face fell, and he drooped. But even then his loose fingers tightened into fists, and a sort of pale anger sounded through his hushed voice as he headed for the door.

"I worked too hard to put up with this crap...I'm through with this. Forget all of you!"

"But Bass, you'll die out there hurt like that." Roll found herself saying. "Don't - "

A glare from Bass cut her off, and she automatically shielded her face with her arms. Nothing happened. She lowered her arms a little, and to her surprise Bass seemed even more hurt than before. She had been expecting him to hit her, but it was as if the opposite had happened - and Roll could somehow hurt him. This barely had time to register before Forte abruptly walked off.

Bass wanted nothing more than to get out. He more sick of them than he could say, though it didn't completely surprise him that there was a tug on his arm. Expecting Mega Man, Forte ripped away his arm and tried to scowl away any further protest. But it wasn't Mega Man.

It was Sonata.

The girl-bot was frowning at him, her shining eyes begging him not to leave. Glitching once more, she grabbed his arm again to maintain her balance. Once the glitch had passed she sighed with relief and looked at all the shocked robots.

"Ho-how c-come eh...everybody doubts my s-self repairff functtions?" Crystal Bot tried to speak. "I-knowwwhat I'm ddo-oing..."

She gave it up and looked back up at her boss. She gritted her teeth and took a breath, trying to force her mind to cooperate.

"F-Forte-kun." she finally said. "You havenn't been listening to what J-jewel Man said, have you? You're nice and g-good, and you s-saved three hhundred and fif-fifty nine people in the past five years. I c-counted. A-and if it wuh...weren't for you, Rock would be dead, and so would I. Evennn if you did-didn't, yerr ma-my friend, and if _someone_ cared about m-me," Here she turned to Jewel Man with a cold heart. "Then he w-would be nicer to my friend."

Crystal Bot had always been a sweet sort, especially towards her family. Or those she considered it. But to see her look at Jewel Man was to see her more evil than she ever had been with Wily. It was Jewel Man's turn for guilt, and his mouth moved as he tried to utter something. Nothing came out, and it was clear Crystal wouldn't have listened anyway.

"I will-ll never speak to you ever again."

"Crystal!" he managed weakly.

She, however, was already looking at the sorry condition of Bass' armor. As if the effort of telling off the jeweler had been some hard effort, Crystal relaxed a little.

"F-forte," she said only with forced effort. "Pplease fixx me. My Aay-eeeyee inhhibb-bbburaaatooohh - ungh!"

Unable to describe her condition, Crystal Bot pouted. But Bass got the idea.

"Auto can fix you." he said without looking at her.

She shook her head and tried harder, still tugging at his arm. "Nnnuh-uh. You k-know mahhsystems better. P-p-please. I need-d you."

Bass looked up at the other staring robots and scowled. He didn't appreciate having to stay around them any longer than he had to, but if Crystal Bot needed him, he would have to put up with it.

"Fine..." he said sourly. "If it's this bad we're going to have to go to the AI lab. Now come on."

Trying to smile, Crystal Bot happily took his arm. But his legs were still a creaking mess, and she giggled as they walked.

"B-between mah legs nn' yyour brainn," she managed as he put her arm around Bass and helped him along. "We'll-ll get somewheres."

Bass just rolled his eyes. And he momentarily forgot that the wreckage of three of her team members was still along the side wall. Crystal had already noticed them, and was trying her hardest not to look.

Jewel Man tried once more. "Crystal Bot...I'm sorry..."

And nothing. Bass looked down to see if the technician would do anything, but she went on as if nothing had been said. They disappeared behind the the AI lab door. Roll scowled at Jewel Man before going over to Rock to insist he finish being repaired.

"I missed something, didn't I?"

In the argument, no one noticed Proto Man coming out of the automated machine. He looked over at Jewel Man out of pure curiousity as he rewrapped his scarf around his neck, but the bitter robot just turned on one heel and left the room. Proto Man looked at his siblings for an explanation, but neither of them seemed to want to say.

"There was a fight..." Roll said. "Jewel Man...he said some horrible things..."

"That's enough." Proto Man replaced his helmet. "I don't want to know any drama. It's none of my business."

And he teleported out.

In the hallway outside, Jewel Man glitched as he leaned against the wall.

_Why did I have to be such an idiot?_

Jewel Man shuffled a foot against the floor. He had never liked Bass, and Bass hadn't bothered to give him a reason to think otherwise. He was rude, arrogant, and selfish. And now he had cost Jewel Man the one robot he cared about the most. Or so Jewel Man told himself. It was such a pathetic lie that even he didn't believe it. He was the one that had driven away his own "step-daughter".

_She never was mine..._

Once the virus Crystal Man had left on his system had been deleted, Jewel Man had begun to remember things about building Crystal Bot that had been repressed before. He had to wonder why Crystal Man just didn't delete the memories outright. There was one memory in particular that he had never showed her, despite Crystal's desire to see everything she could of her father. Jewel Man played it in his head, recalling the short period of time when he and the Team 9 robots had been reprogrammed by Dr. Wily.

**"I shall now test her." Crystal Man announced to Jewel Man. "You will now step back and stay away unless I instruct you otherwise. Do not attempt to interact with her."**

**Jewel Man never liked how he was treated by Wily's shiny-bot, and he wanted to show that his jewel sattelite was much more powerful than any weapon Crystal Man could muster. But the Wily-bot had the upper hand, and had programmed a subdirective in him to keep Jewel Man in line. **

**Crystal Man reached toward the neck of the miniature robot girl on the repair table and flicked the switch. A moment later, the girl blinked. And then she smiled. Sitting up, the little girl-bot brightly chirped, "Hi, Daddy!"**

**"Hello, my daughter. How do you feel today?"**

**"Better." She hopped up on the table happily. "Can I have some dancing programs, Daddy?"**

**"If you so wish." Crystal Man replied, all while observing how well Crystal Bot was able to move. He had done a good job on her limbs, but it was her mind he was concerned about.**

**"Hee hee, thank you!" The little robot looked over in Jewel Man's direction and pointed. "What's that?"**

**"My daughter, you know Jewel Man. You have seen him before."**

**"I don't know..." Crystal Bot put her hand on her chin as she puzzled over it. And then she brightened. "But I know! Hi, Jewel - oh! And I remember that we're not supposed to talk to him. Sorry, Daddy. Uh...why am I sorry again?"**

**Crystal Man sighed, disappointed. He drummed his fingers on the table. How in the world was he going to make her three minds work together instead of seperately? Crystal Bot noticed this.**

**"Am I still broken, Daddy?"**

**"Yes. But I will fix you somehow." **

**"Yay!" she threw her arms around his neck. "I love you, Daddy!"**

**"And I love you, small one."**

**Crystal Man shut down the girl-bot and placed her gently back on the table before walking to the next room of his secret lab to get a part. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Jewel Man approached. All he wanted was to say hello to the little thing. He did feel that his work in stealing the parts for her at least granted him that, and he reached out for her activation switch. But out of nowhere Crystal Man immediately got between them, anger showing through what little of his face was exposed through his faceplate.**

**"I have long since told you that you are not to come near her! She is not yours by any means, and you will do well to remember! If I catch you speaking to her again, then I shall break your neck! She is not your daughter! Do you understand me?"**

Jewel Man cut the memory there. It was not long afterwards that Mega Man had defeated him and he had been reprogrammed back for good. Or as "good" as he was now, he thought dryly. As it was, he had liked having Crystal Bot around. It hadn't taken long for her to occupy a secure place in his heart, and he liked to think that Crystal Man would approve of him watching out for her.

_Heh, some watching out I did...I can accuse Bass all I want, but it doesn't make a difference..._

Thinking of Bass made his teeth clench. He wanted to excuse "his part" of the blame for letting Crystal Bot be hurt because he wasn't as strong as Bass, and Bass should know better. Why in the world did she care about him so much?

_She's blind to his flaws...she should know better! Ugh, I didn't create her! She's not my responsibility! What do I have to do with her anyway?_

Jewel Man buried his face in his hands. He was doing it again - saying things he shouldn't say and didn't mean. And he didn't mean half of what he said to Bass. But something in him was against apologizing. He couldn't stand Bass, and he was pretty sure that the opposite was true also. But Jewel Man was in the wrong, and he knew it. Sinking his head downwards, he gave up. He was going to have to apologize.

_There's no point doing it now. He's working and definitely angry still._

Jewel Man hoped that there was some way that he could get Crystal Bot to change her mind. She was a sweet girl-bot and also a bit ditzy, so perhaps she would change her mind, somehow.

"Urg, what am I doing here?" Jewel Man said aloud as he stared at his limbs and did a systems check. "I'm fully functional! I should be working to help people while I can! This nightmare isn't over yet, and I have got to get moving!"

Inwardly he knew better than to run off by himself. It was a lot smarter for him to just wait for the others to be repaired and work with them, but his guilt made him push this fact aside. Everyone had to be upset with him, and he felt that unless he made up for his sin, no one would accept him. Nodding to himself, Jewel Man teleported out.

\\\

Crystal Bot came back into the AI laboratory, hauling in the replacement legs and helmet for Bass. She presented them to her boss only with an attempt at a smile, as she was trying not to talk. Bass merely went "mm" and kept working on his scans of Crystal Bot's CPU, barely acknowledging her return. Her forced smile faded into a weak pout as she placed the parts on the repair table. She silently waved for him to come and sit down.

There were programs that Auto had designed in case of mental infestation, and Crystal Bot fortunately had her systems restore zip drive with her. That alone wouldn't take care of the virus, but it would certainly help once the invasive program running around in her hard drive was taken care of. But Bass was basically guessing what he had to do. This virus was completely beyond him, and if Crystal hadn't forced him to learn about working with CPUs, then he would utterly helpless. As it was, he had to estimate which program would make a difference, and how much of one. So far, none of them were having too much of an effect. Bass wasn't sure how Crystal Bot had managed to hold back the virus as long as she had. Would it strike her later?

Bass sullenly went over to the table, still numb from the damaging blow to his pride. He didn't even notice that Crystal Bot had to help him onto the table until he was already sitting on it, and once he realized this, he didn't care. Nothing mattered to him anymore. The dark robot lazily looked at his technician as she worked. Even through his numbness it annoyed him to see her upset as she was. And it was even more annoying how she was trying to cover it up by total focus on her work, other than a pale smile in his direction every so often. But she wasn't subtle; there was no fooling Bass. Bass just wanted the repair to be over, but she was intent on at least trying to help him feel better.

"You-our're a really n-nice robot, For-te, Ooo-kay?" she said with loving sadness in her eyes. "Jeweeel M-manan is a j-j-eerk."

"I don't give a crap what he said." Bass muttered this barely loud enough for her to hear. "He's only pissed off because he was upset you were in danger."

The girl-bot immediately looked up at him with a scowl, stunned by this statement. "I kknow you-rere not deffendingg him! Anybody that says somethignn liek what he asaid is _not_ someone I want to be associ-ciated wtih!" She shook her head, wincing at her horrible stuttering. "Oakay, gett dow-dow-dow...muszzt teeeesst..."

Besides pride, Bass was also far out of patience. "Erg, just forget my repairs and get over to the computer! You sound like a retard! Can I walk?"

Crystal Bot barely had time to nod before Bass got to the floor, angrily pulling the girl-bot over to the chair by the computer on the far left wall. Going over to the panel, he slammed his fingers into the appropriate buttons in some semblance of typing. Pulling out a wire, he plugged it into the port of the computer. Intending for the other end to go into Crystal Bot's neck, it took him by complete and total surprise when he turned around, only for Crystal Bot to suddenly grab him around the waist in a tight hug.

"Darn it, Sonata!" the dark robot cringed and starting pulling at her arms. "Get off me! You've got to get fixed!" 

"N-no!"

She only squeezed him tighter, and started to glitch. Normally Crystal Bot was a very affectionate robot, strange as that was, but she never attempted to hug him. She knew better, or so Bass had thought . She knew well enough that no robot had sensory perception, other than to detect vibrations (and not all models could do that), and he of all robots was by no means built for affection or kindness. He didn't get it.

That little voice in the back of his head that had been around ever since he had changed his directive for good (he hated it so much!) began to talk. Right now Crystal Bot was in the worst position she ever had been in her life. Her team was all dead, the space station was gone, and the lab she had worked so hard on building was probably already destroyed. If it weren't for him, she would be utterly alone and have nothing. And the voice didn't stop there. Bass wasn't just a friend to her, he was Crystal Bot's hero. If things were so overwhelming that he couldn't stand it, then there was nothing left for her to do but despair. Even more than this, she simply wanted him to be happy, and she was trying to comfort him in the only way she could think of.

Bass didn't like the voice or what he knew it wanted him to do. He looked down at the poor girl clinging to him, and he cringed again. But if he was going to be of some use, he would at least try to make her feel better. He forced his very reluctant arms to reach around her and awkwardly returned the hug.

"Sonata..." he said slowly. "What you said about me out there...it means a lot to me. Thanks."

Her glitching slowed and she squeezed him tighter. The stood there for a minute more, and the dark robot wondered how long this was going to take. Bass looked up at the door, noticing that Crystal Bot had to have left it open; otherwise he would have noticed Roll opening the door. The housekeeper was looking at them, a bit surprised.

_Argh!_

"Not a word!" Bass mouthed silently so that Crystal Bot wouldn't hear. But the sheer evil on his face definitely got the point across to Roll. "Go away!"

Roll nodded slowly and backed away. Frowning, Bass figured that Roll would have the sense not to mention this to anyone. Hopefully. But then a thought occurred to him. Crystal Bot had been fighting the virus when they found out what happened to the space station. She wouldn't know about Star Man or Stone Man.

"Sonata..." he began carefully. "About the space station...it-"

"NO!" she protested. "I dd-on't wannaa know! Rr-rock c-can tell-ll me about baaddd stufs, not-t you! Nevfer you!"

And she quieted again. As he continued to hold her, Bass realized something.

_This is __boring__!_

The dark robot plugged the wire into her neck. Fortunately for his boredom, he was at least close enough to begin loading some of the repair programs, and he reached out with one arm to get them started. Auto did know his stuff. He'd just hold her until the programs were loaded, then he'd have to remove her skull plating so that the necessary hardware could be replaced.

It was good to be needed.

\\\

Author's notes:

=====Wave Man

**"Stay away from me!"**

Good point: Sentimentalist

Bad point: Loves solitude

Like: Diving

Dislike: Sludge

Wow, reading the Mega Man wiki really makes me realize how far off I've gone from what they call Wave Man. They say that he cries or gets angry easily, but the one I write is a lot calmer. Emotional, just contained. Well, in the game he's actually a great close range fighter, and the description of him was wrong about that, so I'll just pretend the personality thing was wrong too, lol.

So in my world, Wave Man was very unsocial from his first construction. Wily built him because while Bubble Man was amusing, he wanted a more manuverable robot that could go from the sea to land without any problems. But because of lack of inspiration on Wily's part, Wave Man's weapons didn't end up being that handy. Wily was constructing him at the same time he was forcing Dr. Cossack to build Team 4, so more of Wily's efforts went to making sure Cossack built those robots properly rather than Wily's own projects at the time (Cossack actually learned a lot from Wily).

Wave Man liked the open seas, and Bubble Man, a bit jealous of the newer robot's mobility, had intended to assert himself as the superior water-bot under the guise of being Wave Man's friend. Wave Man, however, cared more about simple exploration and animal study, and he hated the annoying tendencies of Bubble Man. Also, he never at any time bothered much about Dive Man, who in turn found himself ignoring the Wily-bot to pursue greater threats to Russia. Before the death of Crystal Man, his closest "friend" was Pirate Man, who often asked Wave Man about underwater geography so that he could find places to hide his treasure.

Wave Man got along with his team surprisingly well after their defeat by Mega Man, though he was forced to stay away from water to build Wily Castles, a task that he didn't mind too much, overall, as they tended to be stashed on islands anyway. His team liked talking to him, as Wave Man never gossiped, and never cared enough to judge them. He was outspoken in defending his team when they were mocked by the other Wily-bots, his most vocal times. He got the leadership of Team 5 when Crystal Man was killed simply because he happened to be standing there at the time, and the position worked out well for his team.

After joining the good guys, Wave Man noticed that he had learned to get along with a greater number of people than he had realized, though in the end he still prefers to be alone. Working in the space station was a bit odd for him, as it did weird things to the water in his body. Other than that, he was perfectly happy.

- I'd like to point out that Ring Man isn't weak; he's about as strong as a normal robot master. It's just that Jewel Man's weapon is far superior.

- Algorhythm Man and Psycho Man are Epidemic Man's favorite brothers, because Al is the smartest, and Psych is the most fun. And they're the strongest out of all of the Cain-bots.

- Out of curiousity, which of the Mega Man games, as a whole, has the best collection of music in your opinion?

- So this chapter's depressing song is Angelicus, a very lovely piece with haunting vocals. Enjoy! www. youtube. com /watch?v=DqUb3L1IRYA


	11. Down

Bass swore. It was just as he thought. The enemy robots had torn up his laboratory to shreds. Crystal Bot had worked on it so hard, and all of his books had been there. But now all that remained of it was shredded walls and the occasional mostly intact piece of literature. He kicked at a tattered copy of Great Expectations, swearing again as he realized that book used to be Dr. Light's.

Crystal Bot must have given the Cain-bots the directions there when she was first infected by that virus. Bass felt he couldn't scowl enough. He had wanted Crystal Bot to give away as much of the Cain-bot's plans as she could before he took control of her, but he had apparently waited too long. Epidemic Man would never have found this place otherwise. Bass kicked more of the rubble away in a fit of anger. It was bad enough losing Treble and almost losing Crystal. He didn't even know if she was going to be free from the virus. Just because she seemed alright now didn't mean something worse wouldn't happen later. He wasn't confident in his ability in virus-busting.

Thankfully though his depression had mostly passed, and it left him only with a sour shame that he had cracked under pressure. In front of Rock too. He was silently thankful for Crystal Bot, though he couldn't help but think she was stupid for believing in him. He shook the thought aside. He would just prove to everyone (especially Jewel Man) that her belief wasn't misplaced. If only Treble were there...

Bass snapped around, his buster pointed at the newly arrived robot that thought he could sneak up. But it was only Proto Man, so he lowered his buster. Not that Bass liked that. If it were a baddie, he could just shoot the robot and feel better. While he still cared nothing about the self-righteous (in his mind) loner-bot, there was no point in fighting him. Not in those circumstances, anyway.

"What do you want?"

Proto Man half expected this reaction. "I need a favor."

"No." Bass snapped. "I've got more important things to do."

"If you're referring to the rampaging robots, then you'll have to leave them to the human authorities." Proto Man remained cool. He never let Bass get to him. And it was funnier to watch Bass get frustrated anyway. "There's too few of us to do any good. Besides that, you owe me."

It took Bass a minute to remember what that was about. "Ugh, that was five years ago!"

Proto Man smiled the faintest smile. "I still managed to get Crystal Bot under control for you. So anyway, as I was saying, there's a more important target to go after if we're going to protect this world. I discovered the general location of Zero's activation device."

Bass' demeanor changed, and he allowed himself a cheery grin. "You didn't have to call in your favor for that."

"Yes I did. This is not a situation where you can just go in, guns blazing. A cool mind should be in charge of this. Mine. And that's where the favor comes in: you'll do exactly what I say."

"WHAT?"

It was obvious that Proto Man was enjoying this far too much. Bass had half a mind to blast that smirk off his face. "Think about it. When Crystal Bot was under their control, she basically said to activate Zero right away. Either they delayed because we have Crystal now and they need her for some reason, or else their plans have changed. I think I've found out their base of operations, their real one, and that's where they have the device. I can't get in there alone, and I'll need a stronger robot to distract them so I can get past their defenses. They've snagged some of the military's best machines for this."

Bass frowned, then his eyes narrowed, warning Proto Man that he was going too far. "No. I'm not taking orders from the likes of you."

"But you owe me."

"You weren't going to pay back the favor you owed me five years ago!" Bass hissed. "And I hauled you out of a stupid volcano."

"You wanted me to see Dr. Light in the hospital, and I did." Proto Man said. "How is that not paying it back?"

"You didn't do it because I told you to, that's for sure!"

Proto Man smiled bigger. "That makes a difference, how? Besides, _good guy_, it's your job to prevent Zero from being activated." From here Blues took on a more serious tone. "And if Zero wakes, then all of us are gone. Then there will be nothing left of Dr. Light's legacy, and Wily wins. You're not going to let a thing like pride get in the way of stopping Wily, are you?"

Bass cringed. Proto Man knew him too well. He would have objected to Blues saying that Zero could kill him, but if someone as crazy as Wily could pull off the scheme he had with taking over all the world's robots, then there was no room for taking chances.

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

-t-

Mega Man equipped his buster and his super armor.

The face of Paris was a bleak one. All the modern cities had had the most advanced and important robots, so of course the disasters there were the most horrific. There was a laboratory on the east side of the city where Dr. Light had often visited. Mega Man made a point of avoiding the area. He wanted to have his memories of the place be one of goodness and progress, not the rubble and wreckage that the rest of the capital of France had become.

Fortunately for the bomber, there didn't seem to be a lot of rebelling robots around. One good side effect of Wily's plan was that these robots would have to be destroyed eventually, meaning that any damage they could do would be short-lived. The blue bomber couldn't avoid a feeling of dread, though. If their damage was subsiding, it wouldn't be long before a large, blonde, red-armored robot would come to put an end to the last vestiges of what Mega Man held dear. He thought of his friends, especially Roll. it was bad enough that he thought he had lost Roll, but really losing her would mean losing himself.

His large eyes looked out over the once bright Paris. It was all empty now, and what remained of it resembled pictures of World War II aftermath. Only now it wasn't just France. Mega Man's eyes lowered to the ground, but even as he tried to avoid the gaze of the tattered landscape, he could still see the cracked cement of the pavement. He didn't expect any trouble, but he went warily in any case. If Dr. Cain was suspicious that one of Wily's minions would go after his sons, then it would probably happen. Mega Man shuddered; he knew how vindicative Wily was. Even though Cain was his (forced) compatriot, he wouldn't forget how Cain had first humiliated him.

Ah, there they were. Robots began to crawl out of the wreckage. They were going around and looking for any hidden humans or targets. He had intercepted some of their transmissions, and he could guess what they were doing. The two sons of Dr. Cain were somewhere nearby, he was sure of it. Mega Man didn't know where to find them, so he followed the renegade robots in hopes they would lead him there. He wished that Cain had given him a direction to go. He was lucky that he found out it was France. Klaus had been visiting his older brother at the college he went to, and they had been there when the attack had started. Mega Man cringed as he thought of the poor human refugees, huddled somewhere under the streets to keep away from any renegades still hunting them down.

There were five robots he was following, and they were some of the tour guide robots that Mega Man had met only the past year. He thought with pain as he remembered Auto's diagnosis of the virus that now had them in sway: it was so deeply ingrained into their CPUs that there was no way to get rid of it in time before the virus destroyed their minds. And if you tried, it was programmed to shut them down early. All of the robots would deactivate to the point of disrepair before anything could be done. Mega Man hated it very badly.

But he chose not to think about it. He was tailing them through the rubble of Paris to save lives that he knew could be, so he was forced to think of them as his enemies. He had no choice in the matter.

One of them, not a tour-bot but a miner's guide made to detect underground oil, started to giggle hideously through a backwards grimace that could only be vaguely called a smile, if you saw it in the correct lighting.

"Hey guys," Mega Man guessed that was what he said. The french he used was very awkward and broken. "I think I found the little runaways!"

As he transmitted some coordinates, he danced about oddly. Mega Man could only feel sympathy for him: this was another symptom of the robot's impending death, as the deletion of his personality AI resulted in weird behavior. But as sorry as he felt, Mega knew he had to destroy the five robots. He caught the coordinates, and so he had to wreck them before they found the humans. He charged his buster.

The robots heard it, and they turned around with threat in their stances.

"Look! Get him!"

To his horror Mega Man found that they weren't trying to kill him, per say, but each of them reached out with relentless arms to hold him still. One of them was brandishing a small computer chip, and he gleefully started to bring it towards the blue bomber. Rock unleashed the charged shot, taking down the two bots to his left. The other two near him grabbed his arms, but before the last could try and get the chip installed, Rush flew by, snagging it away and chopping it to bits.

"Good job, Rush!"

Mega Man pulled his arms out of the robots' grasp and fired. One of them immediately fell, and the other was a little tricker to take down. Fortunately, none of them were designed for fighting, so no matter what Wily had infected them with, they couldn't beat the blue bomber. And also fortunately, none of them were smart enough to try to run away to the humans or try to communicate to any other robots in the area where the humans were. For now, they would be safe.

"Alright, Rush," Mega Man said to his dog once the battle was complete. "Let's go find those humans. I know of a place we can take them that will be safe and they'll like it a lot better than they will underground. You called for the rescue helicopter, right?"

Rush barked in the affirmative.

-t-

"How long do we have to wait here?"

The dark robot looked out into the dark streets of New York, where the wreckage now appeared quiet. But Bass and Proto Man were not fooled. Both of them could detect the movement of the stealthy robots wandering the streets. They were converging on the bottom of a half-collapsed skyscraper, obviously the base that Proto Man had mentioned. As for stealth on their part, the two heroes were one street over, hidden in the shadows of a wall. It was the only remains of that particular building.

"We're waiting for Epidemic Man." Proto Man replied. "Or one of the other Cain-bots. If you notice, the army-bots they're using to guard the place are never allowed into the interior of the basement, where I'm sure the activation device is kept. We'll wait until one of them comes and opens the door. Your part will be to distract Epidemic Man - or whoever it is - letting me sneak inside to reach the device while they think that you are the one trying to stop them."

Bass was convinced that Proto Man was making at least half of his information up. "That sounds dumb. You could just end up trapped in there and get killed by somebody. Not that I care, but if I have to put up with Rock's whining it'll piss me off."

"Oh, because everything that exists was made to be convenient for _Bass_." Proto Man rolled his eyes, vaguely amused by his helper's commentary. "I'm obsolete. If I haven't died at some point before now, I think I can manage this. Besides, if you want Rock to 'not whine' then you can come in and rescue me."

"You'll owe me again."

"No, a calm Rock is your reward."

"Whatever."

There was silence for a time, as both robots scanned the radio waves and gazed up at the sky for any sign of Epidemic Man. His coloration was not one that would show up well, and Proto Man found himself hoping that Algorhythm Man would be the one to show up. His bright, neon patches would make him the easiest of all the Cain-bots to spot. Then again, Psycho Man wouldn't be too hard to spot either, especially if he sent out his electrical attack. But surely the enemy wasn't that stupid. They knew better than to think so.

Bass did a quick check of his busters. Both dequipped and re-equipped silently and properly, and his power level was looking good. He resisted the urge to tap his armor; Crystal Bot had taught him that as a way to test the quality of a particular metal, and Bass longed to hear the ring of his custom-engineered armor. It was a comforting sound. No reason to make too much noise and alert anyone to their presense, though, so he just folded his arms and leaned against the wall.

"Bass?"

"What?"

He glanced over at the red Light-bot, noticing the strange look on his face. Proto Man was biting his lip, and seemed to be half fighting his curiosity. He spoke his mind anyway, a bit apprehensively.

"When you worked for Wily...did you ever kill anyone? Humans, I mean?"

"Yeah. Lots. Hundreds. Maybe a thousand, even."

Even through his visor, Proto Man was able to convey perfectly his unamused glare. He was asking an honest question, and didn't care for sarcasm.

Bass lifted one side of his mouth in a crooked smile. "I never killed anybody. Sheesh."

Proto Man was taken aback. "Wait, you worked for Wily all those years and you never...? I think even Top Man killed someone, once."

"Top Man?" Bass chortled. "Oh, I feel so sorry for that person. They'd have to try hard to find a dumber way to go than that. Ha."

"And you?"

Bass shrugged. "I was too busy fighting Rock to care much about killing people. That, and Wily usually just ordered me to steal things from them. They nearly crapped their pants - some of them actually did - at the sight of me, so I never needed to do much besides rough them up a little. Hehe, watching them squirm was hilarious. When you've got it, you don't need to prove you've got it. Ha, good days, good days..."

Proto Man winced, shaking his head. The irony of it was stunning - it was Bass' desire for fear that saved their lives? That protection could come from such a demented source was beyond Proto Man's understanding.

"You killed someone, didn't you?"

This question broke into Blues' thoughts like a sledgehammer into glass. For a moment the pure shock of it paralyzed him. Unable to look Bass in the eyes, Proto Man only muttered quietly his answer.

"Yeah. It was when I was very young...I didn't know better, and Wily had said..."

Blues stopped, bitterly scrunching his lips together. Attempting to explain himself and his miserable reasoning only made him sound more pathetic. He wished he hadn't asked Bass about murder in the first place. Bass was a bad guy, why hadn't he killed? It wasn't fair. Proto Man had always tried to do what he thought was right, and somehow he ended up being the killer, rather than a demented robot who only cared about being the best in the world.

"Eh, that's right, somebody did say you worked for him before I was built." Bass was completely indifferent to Blues' internal struggle. "But you got away, and that's what counts."

"Please don't tell Rock."

"Heh, imagine him crying about it." the dark robot grinned at the thought. "Nah, that guy's way too innocent. He'd probably blow a gasket or something if he found out."

"I'd rather not think about it."

"Have it your way."

The two remained silent. Proto Man realized that Bass hadn't said directly that he would keep the information to himself, but he figured that Bass didn't have a reason to. Besides, pressuring him about it was more likely to get him to tell. So Proto Man dropped the matter. He shifted uncomfortably. Bass seemed inexplicably calm for the topic they had just been discussing.

"So who'd you kill?"

"Bass, please...don't ask me about it."

The dark robot didn't care enough to persue it further. Again it was ironic: the bad quality of indifference was what kept Bass from scorn, mockery, or some other reaction he could have to learning something darker about the Light-bot.

"Well, don't cry about it. You've made up for it by now."

Proto Man didn't think that was possible, but he abstained from contradiction. "I wish I felt that way."

There was no more conversation. Bass wasn't that curious, and Proto Man wasn't willing to divulge, so the matter dropped. And it wasn't long before they both detected the Cain-bot they knew would come, and they both got ready. Blues disappeared, and Bass made ready his busters, waiting for the signal to begin. Epidemic Man lowered to the street, looking about him with a sort of grin on his face. Bass swore he'd change that expression, as well as remodel his face.

_He'd look REAL good with a plasma burn hole between his eyes..._

Epidemic Man disappeared in the rubbish, but that was to be expected, or so Proto Man said. In any case, Bass couldn't get any closer for the time being, so he just waited for the signal. It was another reminder that he was following Proto Man's orders...yuck. Fortunately Bass was too focused on his enemies to bother with complaining, even in his thoughts.

_Three army-bots, waiting out front, at least two went where I can't see, but they're on radar...Epidemic Man in place..._

There was a pinging sound somewhere in the distance.

_That's the signal. Now they die._

-t-

It was some sort of panic room, Mega Man guessed. It was supposed to have been hidden by a movable wall in the subway system, but that wall had crumbled. Mega Man couldn't really tell why, but he guessed that it had something to do with aboveground explosions causing earthquakes. He passed through the wrecked wall and found himself face to face with huge metal panels, and in the middle of one was a heavily armored door. Small round black things embedded in the wall were cameras, he guessed. A small speaker was attacked to the wall, and Mega Man pressed the button so that he could speak to those inside.

"Paris survivors," Mega Man said in perfect (and absolutely adorable, if he had known it) french. "This is Mega Man, and I've come to bring you to where you can be safe! Are Rodney and Klaus Cain in there with you?"

There was a pause, and Rock made sure to stay within camera range so they could see it really was him. It was only then he noticed the laser guns hanging overhead, pointed exactly at him. He laughed at himself. He should have noticed those first. It made him feel better that the humans were prepared for a robot attack, though he couldn't help but think putting up a weak sort of resistance as that would only alert other bad robots to their presense in the shelter.

"This is Rodney Cain," a voice crackled through the speaker. "My brother is here too."

"Good!" the blue bomber was relieved. "You're not hurt, are you? None of you in the shelter, I mean?"

"Besides a sprained ankle and a manner of bruises and cuts, we are all fine. There are fifteen of us altogether."

"Okay. There's a rescue helicopter coming, and it should be here in ten minutes. I'll stay out here and keep the way clear for you until it arrives."

"I'm glad you showed up, Mega Man." another voice sounded through the speaker, a young one. "Can you find our parents for us?"

Mega Man guessed that this was Klaus. "I'm not sure about your mother. As for Dr. Cain..."

He paused. How could he tell them about their father's death? The very fact that he had died was bad enough, and the method of his departure was frightening even to a robot that had fought in many wars. And to tell them that their father had been the unwitting dupe of the evil mastermind Wily would be just too much. Mega Man knew he had to figure out some way to say it. They deserved to know at least a watered down version of the truth.

"...he said that he loves you both very much."

When the crackling speaker sounded again, Mega Man could hear weak crying in the background. Rodney's voice was the one who spoke next. "Did he have something to do with everything that happened out there? To Paris...and to the whole world? I have to know."

"It wasn't his fault." Mega Man said, trying his hardest to keep calm himself. "He told me a long time ago that he wanted to get out of villainy, but Wily...Wily did a lot of bad things to him. He installed a chip in his brain-"

"No, Wily didn't." Rodney said. "Dad got the chip installed on himself years ago. It's a prototype he invented to interface with his computers. But if Wily somehow could manipulate it, then...that makes sense." The young man sighed before continuing. "There's no point in talking about it anymore. Where can you take us that it will be safe?"

"There's several islands around the world that the UN ordered to be made in case of a robotic attack. No robots are allowed there, and they have the best anti-machine weaponry that the world has produced." Mega Man explained. "It's a whole lot better than being stuck in an underground shelter - oh! That's Rush! Don't come out of the shelter until I tell you, okay?"

"Okay."

Mega Man signalled his loyal dog. _" - is it all clear up there Rush? - "_

_" - Woof, woof woof, ruff! - "_

_" - Great! You keep sniffing around and make sure no one approaches as the helicopter lands. I'm going to make sure the path is clear and then bring the survivors up to the helicopter. - "_

_" - Ruff-ruff! - "_

-t-

As expected, there was a secret door among the New York building's wreckage, and it probably led to what was the basement of the formerly tall and noble skyscraper. Also to be expected, as soon as Epidemic Man noticed Bass killing his servants, the door snapped shut. But Bass didn't care. Proto Man was probably already inside, tearing up anything that remotely looked like an activation device. And Bass, feeling like he should keep up his side of things, was ready to kill anything that looked like an enemy.

"Having fun, Fish?"

"Call me that again and die!"

"Oh, so it's magic then?" Epidemic Man lifted a curious hand to his chin. "If I say the magic word then I will instantly die? I shall now test that theory. Fi-"

The sudden _THWANG_ of an army-bot head smacking into his face stopped Epidemic Man, for a moment anyway. He laughed heartily, despite some fresh new dents in his metal visage.

"Ha ha, you have no sense of humor."

"I'm not a comedian."

With that, Bass promptly equipped the psycho pulse and threw a fist with such impact that the last army-bot's head went flying in one strike. Epidemic Man's eyes widened, as if he had some light approval for the dark robot, who was now turning his attention to the evil Cain-bot.

"Eh...I'd like to fight you," Epidemic Man's tone wasn't altogether that convincing. "But I'm afraid that my dear brother Al has first dibs on taking you down. Mind waiting a bit for me to go fetch him?"

"Yes, I would!"

Quickly getting the signal shot ready, Bass fired it off. It hit his enemy straight on, and Epidemic Man was stopped cold, forced by the strange substance to slow down.

"Ugh! That Signal Man!" Epidemic Man swore. "He always was more useful to you idiots rather than us!"

Bass found that using his buster was often more poignant than any conversation he might have made. This was one such time, and each purple pellet maddened Epidemic Man further (and amused Forte that much more).

"Oh wait, you're weak to Echelon Man's weapon, right?" Bass' gold turned to brick red. "Alright, let's-"

Certainly Bass wasn't going to say "let's kick me in the face", but that's precisely what happened. Bass had overestimated the length of time Signal Man's weapon (if you can call it that) lasted, and he paid for his mistake, flying backwards from Epidemic Man's dash-kick.

"You can do that?"

"I'm just full of surprises, now aren't I? Stick around, okay? Algorhythm Man's on his way!"

Bass jumped to his feet and started firing. "You get back here!"

But Epidemic Man lifted up and flew off, dodging the purple plasma rather cleverly as he dodged the pillars holding up what floors remained overhead. Cursing once for good measure, Bass slammed his fist into what remained of a wall.

_Hey wait a minute. Can't that guy teleport? Must be broken._

Bass stored this information away later, also noting Epidemic Man's dash. He wasn't going to be taken advantage of again. But now that the ruined streets were empty, the dark robot's thoughts turned once again over to Proto Man, wondering why in the world he was following along with such a ridiculous plan. Proto Man had probably gotten into the underground hideout, but there was no telling what defensive measures were in there and he could have been shot and killed within a minute of getting there.

He went over to the door to investigate. It was a round thing lying level along with the tattered floor, one of the very few areas where you could actually see the floor. The metal door was split into eight triangles, and these apparently opened apart, leaving the center open for passage. There was a panel with numbered buttons and red lights, but Bass couldn't get it open. He wasn't going to try, either.

"This stupid place is made in a basement - it's not armored." he muttered to himself. "I can blast through the floor."

And that's what he did, though once the ground beneath him collapsed he realized he probably should have thought things through a little better. Sinking down with the falling rubble, he found himself inside the underground base. He threw off the junk around him and got up to take a look.

The hall was filled with a large number of auto cannons hung wherever they could find room in the basement, all pointed at where the true entrance to the base was. Expecting them to shoot at him, Bass readied himself to dodge. But they did nothing. On closer inspection, they were seen to have no power.

"You're so subtle, Bass."

"I had to get in here somehow, Proto-idiot, so relax." Bass usually only liked sarcasm when he was the one dishing it out. "How did you get in here without activating the autocannons? Or were they off when you got here?"

Proto Man smiled as he walked towards his partner. While most of the time he had a rational opinion of himself, he knew he was clever. "I told you, I know what I'm doing."

"Whatever. Did you destroy the activation device or what?"

"I believe I did." Proto Man nodded. "Everything I checked in the computer seems to indicate that. But I'd like to make sure there's not an alternate device, and also to see if there's anything else I can learn about what the Cain-bots are doing. This base is a tunnel that extends several blocks outwards, and there's bound to be something worth seeing further down. We can't assume we know everything about Wily's plan, even now."

"He's already torn the planet up, and without Zero what can he do?" Bass said. "But whatever. Lead on, 'brave leader'."

"No." Proto Man handed out three discs to Bass. "I found these, and I believe they'll be useful to us, so you'd better get them back to the lab with them. I'm going to go alone. If there were any more robots here you would have alerted them with your entrance in any case. Leave this to me."

For a moment, the dark robot just stared at him, leaving the discs where they were. "That's not smart. You're going to face whatever's there alone?"

"Just trust me. I've been practicing stealth longer than you've been alive. Besides, I did deactivate the autocannons without any so much as firing at me. I know what I'm doing."

"If you say so." Bass took the discs and stashed them under his armor. "But if someone doesn't hear from you when I get back, I'm sending Rock out to find you."

"Wow, you almost sound concerned for my welfare."

Bass sneered as he started heading for the hole he had made so he could double-jump out. "Don't get used to it."

-t-

Roll looked out the window of the lab. She didn't want to leave it, but at the same time, she was bored. She hated herself for being bored, what with so much danger around her, but she couldn't help it. Being bored was far better than wondering about her brothers, or Bass. So there she was, standing at an outer window, hoping she would see someone with some news.

She looked back aimlessly. She was in the "library" of Dr. Light's old documents (a place she found more comforting and welcoming than ever), and through the open door she could hear the noise going on in the lab. Crystal Bot was repairing the set of Bass' legs that she had just replaced, so that he would have a spare, though from her desperate mutterings, Roll could still tell that the poor tech-bot was trying to repair at least one of her comrades. Roll shuddered. Auto was still working on a cure for the virus that was infecting the robots around the world. He wanted more than anything else to work on the greater virus that had forced its way into Crystal Bot's mind, but he had no safe way of doing so.

Roll stopped listening to the chatter of the technicians. Most of it was beyond her, and all of it was depressing. The only hope she had was that Rock would come home soon, telling them that all the Cain-bots were gone and wouldn't trouble anyone anymore, just like he did after defeating every other robot team that had tormented them. She stared out the window at the quiet surroundings of the house, still amazed that no one had attacked the lab yet. She didn't know how strong the security was.

A glimpse of something red and yellow was outside the window, standing out in the grass beyond Light property.

"Proto Man!" Roll screamed with delight as she ran for the door.

The lab seemed larger than ever as Roll impatiently ran through it to where she could leave. Auto saw her running by them, but Roll paid them no mind. She was going to find her brother. Only as Roll finally got to the outer door did it occur to her how strange it was for Proto Man to remain outside the force field that protected the lab. He had the proper coding. He could just walk on through. She didn't notice Auto coming behind her.

As she continued to run outside, she heard another familiar voice.

"Huh? How the crap did he get here before me?"

It was Bass, who was far more confused than anyone else. He was closer to Proto Man, as he was coming up to the lab himself from behind. The red and grey robot, however, was standing stock still, his face expressing...nothing. But that didn't stop Bass from trying to get his attention.

"Hello? Earth to Blues..."

The dark robot grabbed his shoulder. Without warning, Proto Man's head tumbled forward, falling off his shoulders and leaving his scarf in Bass' hand. Pushed out of balance, the body crumpled up as the falling helmet dumped out all that remained of Proto Man's mind: bits and pieces of random plastic and metal, with the occasional wire that managed to stay intact for about an inch. They had shredded his mind to bits. It became apparent that the only part of his head intact was the part of his face that showed from under his visor.

"Um...you can fix that, right?"

Auto didn't answer Bass' question. He simply started scooping up the tiny bits that once made up Proto Man's mind and putting them into his upturned helmet to make sure they were collected. Among them, he found a folded piece of paper. It was a note, and once unfolded, it read this:

"Keep your nose out of our business."

Auto crumpled the noted in his hand angrily, then silently went back to gathering Blues' remains. Not sure what else to do, Bass awkwardly handed the yellow scarf to Roll. The girl-bot took it reverently, stroking running her hand down its length. But then she began quivering.

"It's not fair...it's not fair!"

Bass awkwardly reached for shoulder (everything he did then was awkward), but Roll just shook her head, crying too hard to tell him not to touch her. She ran inside the lab, the golden yellow scarf fluttering behind her as she ran, and a forlorn Bass watched her go. He kicked at some dirt bitterly. He had messed up again.

\\\

Author's Notes:

- I hereby dedicate this chapter to Queen Sunstar, because she's the one that said Proto Man would live. :D Oh, I had his death planned out way before you suggested it, and I'm so glad I get to share it with you guys now. BWAAHAHAHAHA!

- Gah, me and my never ending battle with the segment breaks...

Since there's no one new in this chapter to introduce, I'll do some peeps I meant to do but forgot earlier.

=====Drill Man  
**"Oops, I damaged the gas pipe..."**  
**Good point:** Industrious  
**Bad point:** Haphazard  
**Like:** A rush job  
**Dislike:** Calculations

Drill Man is the second robot Dr. Cossack built, and he is very loyal to his master, hence why he had the hardest time with being taken over by the mind-control virus and destroying Cossack's lab. While Pharoah Man is fairly lacking in emotion, Drill Man is essentially the opposite, and they two represent Dr. Cossack's early problems working with sentient AI. However, Drill Man, while impatient, does like a job well done. He generally works more for the Russian government than for Cossack personally, but he's under the doctor's authority. He's pretty much the most nuts of all the Cossack-bots, but he gets along very well with the family, especially Kalinka, and he doesn't like to come back from a job without some sort of story or joke to tell her. Drill Man has fights with Bright Man, at times, as he has trouble listening to anyone but Cossack or Pharoah Man, and sometimes he can be annoying to them. But he always means well. Admittedly, Drill Man actually liked working for Wily, as he got to drill whenever and wherever he wanted. It spoiled him a little, but he still cares too much others and being thought of well by them to ever go bad on his own.

=====Ring Man  
**"Expect no mercy, Megaman!"**  
**Good point:** Good strategist  
**Bad point:** Too confident  
**Like:** Deck quoit  
**Dislike:** Children

Ring Man and Skull Man were both emphatically "suggested" by Wily. While Skull Man made sense, being both scary and Wily's mascot, pretty much, Ring Man was just strange. He was made specifically to assassinate Mega Man - so Wily said - but yet had rings for a weapon. Dr. Cossack told Wily that rings as weapons didn't make any sense at all, but Wily said that's why it would work. Of course it didn't, and the evil doctor never forgave Cossack for being right.

Ring Man was always a fairly serious robot, but he could be mischevious at times. Out of all Cossack's robots, the doctor felt that Ring Man's personality AI was the most successful, as he seemed the most human, despite his generally serious nature. That was perhaps the biggest reason why Cossack kept him after the events of MM4. Over the years, they became good friends, and Ring Man showed himself to be a great conversationalist. Surprisingly enough, he became very competent with his rings, and often serves as a guard for Cossack's more serious projects when they need to be delivered somewhere in Russia.

By the way, deck quoit is a game pretty much like horseshoes, only with rings instead.

- This chapter's depressing music is The Gift, and here's a vid: www. youtube .com /watch?v=we_Tu-85X5M The music video is about Dragon Ball Z, so I highly encourage you to just skip the vid and listen to the music. Not that I have anything against DBZ, the song just doesn't seem to match. Also, you can download the music for free legally at the website www. djredlight .com Illegal downloads are bad! Don't be a music pirate if you don't want to get assassinated by music ninjas!


	12. Blood and Terror

_" - Alright, Rock, this is where you leave us. - "_ the pilot said into his microphone. _" - As much as I'd like to bring you along, there's no robots allowed past this point. - "_

Mega Man nodded. He wasn't offended. _" - That's okay, Mr. Dunning. I have to help a lot more people anyway. - "_

That meant the helicopter was starting to go over the ocean. The island would be reached soon, and that meant Mega Man, who was flying aside it on Rush, would have to turn back. There were plenty of cannons and such to protect the helicopter, so the bomber wasn't afraid for them. He waved at the Cain brothers, and the two boys waved back as Rush jet zoomed over back over to the mainland.

Mega Man liked Rodney and Klaus. For boys that had such a reckless and petty father, they didn't seem half bad. Then again, Rock reminded himself, they had been primarily raised by their mother. The robot curiously wondered what that was like. While he too essentially had been "raised" by a "single parent", it just wasn't the same. Sythesized emotions only went so far, and Mega Man had been built with a level of maturity automatically. But the boys were coping well (for the circumstances anyway), and the robot hero was by no means worried about them.

What had especially impressed Mega Man was Rodney's treatment of his little brother. Klaus, like any boy his age, was trying to be brave and strong, but every so often you could see him look with relief in his older brother's direction. It had shocked Mega Man to see how young most of those survivors had been. They were mostly college students from Rodney's school, and they all seemed to look to him for guidance. Rodney comforted the others as best he could, and any spare chance he could he smiled with approval at Klaus, encouraging the teen to not let the long hours of flight in potential danger get to him. The flight was bad enough, and then the students had to wait at a military station for forty-five minutes while the helicopter refueled.

It reminded Rock of his own brother. Thinking of Proto Man always made him happy. While they had never been as close as Mega Man liked, Proto Man had always been there exactly when he was needed. He watched out for Rock when the blue robot had least expected it.

Mega Man wondered where Proto Man had gone. His habit of disappearing all the time was annoying, but it only made the times Proto Man did show up that much more happy.

_"Oh well, I'll see him sometime soon!" _Mega Man cheerfully thought. _"He'll always show up again!"_

-t-

It seemed to Roll that each day in the lab was gloomier than the next. A bad thing would happen, only to be followed by another that was worse. As much as she didn't want to see Proto Man's shattered remains, she couldn't bear to be away from the others. So she sat at the side of the lab, huddling Proto Man's precious helmet in her lap with arms that wouldn't let go. It hadn't been damaged much, surprisingly. In fact, it was hard to tell exactly what ended her brother's life.

Auto himself was pretty confused about it, and if he had any ideas about it, he wasn't saying them. He wasn't talking, and Roll wasn't certain if he had spoken at all since they had found Proto Man. Auto had been a cheery robot for all of his existence, and now that things were getting darker, he had no resource for what to do when he was not happy. So he simply shut all of his emotions inside himself, working so that he couldn't think about anything but data.

One thing was certain, though, and that Roll felt she had never loved her friend Crystal Bot more than she did at that moment. The poor tech-bot had gotten out a pair of tweezers, and was delicately trying to piece Proto Man's mind together again. Blues had rejected Crystal Bot's idea that he get a mind-storage zip drive, so if this didn't work, that was the end of the first sentient robot.

"I don't know where everything goes!" Crystal Bot cried in frustration, throwing down her tweezers. "All the bits are too small! Proto Man...he, he...just like my father...it's not fair! We fixed his power core! He was gonna live..."

It was all too much for Sonata. She just crawled under the table and started to glitch, hiding her face behind her knees. Roll couldn't blame her. The housekeeper-bot laid her head down on the Proto helmet, looking away from the others.

The grim circumstances and even more grim robots had produced the worst kind of effects in Bass. Roll could hear his growling, and she shuddered, warily turning her head enough to glance at him and see what he was doing. He got up from where he had been sitting and grabbed his technician by the arm.

"Get out from under there!" Bass screamed at her. "You're not helping anyone by just sitting around! Now get up and start listing the names of any robot master that could still be alive!"

"Yes, yes I'm sorry!"

Scrambling out from under the table, Crystal Bot went for a computer, struggling between glitches to do what she was told. The poor girl-bot was far too upset to object to Bass, though she would normally let him have it for "not treating her like a lady". Bass wouldn't have cared in any case, and Roll was just glad that no one started an argument over it. Numbly Roll turned away from them. She didn't want to see anyone. Resting her head on the Proto helmet in her lap, she sighed, and a sob escaped with it.

"Did you find something on those stupid discs?"

"Nothing much important." Auto muttered, for once breaking his silence and not sounding a lot more personable than his questioner. "It's basically about Cain Castle and the trap there. I'm not finished yet."

"No point in hanging around here then." Bass snapped as he headed for the door. "I'm off to kill me some idiot-bots. Sonata, you tell me if there's trouble!"

"Okay, okay!"

-t-

Dr. Cossack wasn't sure he liked the island. Or maybe he would like it better if they would actually let him out of the armored building to take in the sunshine and beach. Never before had Mikhail been one much for too hot places, but if he was stuck there, he at least wanted to enjoy it. But he could risk some flying Wily-bot seeing him and making a target out of the place. It just wasn't safe.

So Cossack just wandered the halls of the bunker for the billionth time. He wasn't so worried for himself about the hot climate. That was why he was now bringing back some ice cold water bottles back to his daughter. Kalinka was managing as well as she could, but her impatient side was starting to show about life in the bunker. Cossack couldn't do anything but grin. She had been that way ever since she was a little child, and to him it was only cute. But as his steps echoed in the metal hall, his smile had to fade. He had raised his little girl as a widower, and Kalinka was facing the exact situation he had lived in for years. It wouldn't be exactly the same, he promised himself. He'd be there for her.

He opened the door to the lounged and stepped inside. It was a nice place, a round room with the demi-transparent paneling that looked like a wall from the outside, but was in fact a window. The place was decorated nicely with bright walls accented in red, and long cushioned seating that ran along the outer wall. Kalinka sat there, staring out the window with a little pout. She wanted to be outside as much as her father did. She saw him coming and brightened.

"I am so bored, Papa." she leaned against her father when he sat beside her. "I want to be doing something. Even if I am on my hands and knees scrubbing a floor, I do not care!"

This amused Dr. Cossack. She might say that, but he knew that his daughter didn't like that sort of thing. It was one of the reasons she was very happy her father was a robotics scientist: the cleaning was done by them. He just handed her a bottle of water.

"Isn't there anyone else you can talk to here?"

"There are a few people, but most of them are scientist's wives and they are looking after children."

Kalinka kept her focus out of the window, trying not to let her father see how depressed she was. She needn't have bothered. A sinking feeling filled Dr. Cossack. Not too long ago she was one of those wives. They had barely been able to put Alyosha in a morgue before leaving for the non-robot area, hoping for a proper funeral when they returned. Dr. Cossack placed his arm around Kalinka's shoulder (which he inwardly awarded himself for - why wasn't that blasted air conditioner working?), and she replaced her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, Papa, everything will be alright, yes?"

"Yes, it will. Trust your Papa, okay?

Kalinka drank some of her water, looking down at her belly as she did. She wished that she would start to show soon. But the fetus was only a few weeks old. There would be few signs of its presense for a while. Kalinka had never even been morning sick yet.

There was the distant sound, a faint roar that echoed gently.

"That sounds like thunder." Kalinka guessed. "It is clear outside, though."

"They might be testing the island's weapons." Dr. Cossack nudged his daughter. "Let me up, I think this is something I have to check on."

-t-

Roll was sick. Or she thought she was sick. Or if she was human she was sure she'd be sick. Roll had lived in that lab for years, and only now was she getting cabin fever. It didn't help that she had to put the remains of Team 5 and Treble into a storage room. Auto took Proto Man's remains there, for which Roll was thankful. She couldn't do it herself. Roll was angry at Sonata for not bringing someone in herself, but of course Crystal Bot used the excuse that she was working.

But Roll hadn't put Proto Man's helmet and scarf in the storage room. She didn't want them there. So she was in Dr. Light's file library again, trying to decide where they should go. She didn't want a day to go by without remembering him. Or that's what Roll told herself. Instead the housekeeper-bot never let the items out of her hands. In the end she just settled down in the chair with them in her lap, and had herself a good cry.

Only a few minutes later she left the room, with the helmet and scarf still sitting inside on the desk. She couldn't dare look at them any longer.

_I'm sick...I'm a mess...I need to do something!_

There was little point in getting the technicians to work on her. Auto, though he had calmed down from before, still wasn't speaking. He was hard at work locating the last Wily-bots and Cain-bots, though for the time being it seemed that the Cain brothers had disappeared. As for Wily's last survivors, they were going about and deleting every file, record, and data on modern, sentient robotics. Museums were being plundered, labs burned to the ground, and nothing remained of libraries. Bass and Mega Man were of course gone robot hunting, as ordered by the last semblances of the government. Roll grumpily wondered if she'd ever see them again.

As she prepared to stomp off, something on the table caught Roll's eye. It was two of Crystal Bot's teleportation devices, good for supplying the power to penetrate non-teleportation zones. Roll eyed them with some interest, and she slowly took one in her hand. It didn't look complex, but she wasn't sure how to work it.

"What are you doing, Roll-chan?"

Crystal Bot came over to the table. She wasn't angry at Roll for observing her inventions, but she sauntered over with all the concern of a friend who knows that the thing you're handling is a lot more hazardous or hard to control than you think it is.

Words ran through Roll's mind as she tried to think of excuses, but what ended up coming out of her mouth was, "I think I'm sick."

The housekeeper wasn't sure why she had said that, and she felt all the more out of sorts for it. Crystal Bot blinked twice, her head leaning to the side very childishly, like someone playing house. She placed her hand on Roll's forehead.

"You have a fever. Take two aspirin and go lie down."

They giggled weakly. It was such a corny joke.

"Aren't you busy?" Roll lazily asked.

"Not so busy I can't talk to my friend. Besides, I get sick of everything too. Poor Proto Man...we fixed his power core, and he was going to live..." Crystal Bot quieted a bit, forcing herself not to glitch. "So...what do you want with the teleporters?"

Crystal Bot's question was only curious. Roll relaxed, still rolling the object in her hands curiously. "I want to get out, to go somewhere and do something. I'm a certified nurse, so I could help people..."

Cyrstal always thought Roll's helpfulness was sweet, and her smile said as much. "But you can't, you know that. If they see a sentient robot out there they'll come after you, and that will just get you in trouble."

"I understand all that!" Roll said more impatiently than she wanted. "It's just..."

She sighed and gave up, putting the teleporter back on the table. "It doesn't matter."

"If it matters to you, then it matters." Crystal Bot stubbornly put the teleporter back into her hand. "I know! Maybe you could go check on Dr. Cossack and Kalinka. You look really human, and nobody would know who you are except them, probably."

"It's a non-robot zone! If I get caught I'll be in big trouble! They can trace teleports onto the island!"

"But you won't get caught. Kalinka wouldn't turn you in, anyway. And everybody says you look like a human, so they'd have no reason to check. Besides," Crystal Bot leaned in for a whisper. "They don't actually see when these babies teleport. I have a function that allows you to hide the teleport signal, and all I gotta do - " she took the device back from Roll and fiddled with some switches. "- is that!"

She gave it back to Roll, and Roll accepted it with some apprehension. "Um, I don't know if this is right."

"Well, you can either go, or you can stay here and be sick. Come on! Live a little! I won't tell Rock on you."

"Uh...but if I get caught..."

"Keep the device in your pocket and use it to come back." Crystal Bot answered. "I'll make up an excuse for you to the law - and really, how much of that is left now?"

"Okay, I'll go." Roll nodded, assuring herself. "I need to check and see how Kalinka is doing anyway."

"Tell her I said hi!"

"I will!"

Crystal instructed her friend on how to use the teleporter, and for emergency's sake she set it so Roll would only have to press one button to come back if she was in trouble. Dub was summoned, and he converted to backpack mode so that Roll could wear him. With that, the lab disappeared around her, much to her glee, and she appeared in the armored halls of what she guessed to be the security island. Only then did she think to wonder why Crystal Bot had those coordinates.

The halls were empty, though. As big as they were, it was haunting. Roll looked up at the edges of the ceiling, and there were these boxes there. They were all flashing red.

_Oh no...someone detected me..._

Roll thought briefly about going back to the lab, fingering the device in her pocket. But there was no point in going back without at least finding out what was going on. And that sure didn't take long. A huge explosion rocked the building, knocking Roll off her feet and breaking the window ahead. Trying not to scream, Roll ran back down the hall. She had to find Kalinka.

As she ran through the echoing halls, she realized that they would already have procedures in place to protect everyone there. She didn't know what was going on, so how could she help? One thing was certain. The island was under attack. Roll quickly sent out a transmission back to the lab, pausing to try and figure out where she was. In fear she realized that someone was coming down the hallway from where she had just returned. More than one...and they were robots. Not stopping to figure out anymore, Roll ran. Roll's CPU screamed at itself to get her back to the lab, and the housekeeper-bot definitely agreed. Rock would come and fix this. She pulled out the teleporter from her pocket and pressed the button.

Nothing.

_WHAT? Oh no! Part of it broke when I fell in the explosion! _

Dub sprang into action. Jumping off of Roll's back, he hit the floor and expanded his arms out. Three became a tripod to support him, and the other five lifted out and became laser cannons, firing out at the robots coming down the hall. With a mighty _TWONK, _Dub urged his mistress to get out of sight. Roll ran like there was no tomorrow.

_I don't understand! These places are supposed to be heavily defended! What can get past their cannons?_

If only Roll could see the outside of the armored facility. The beaches of the island were busily being trampled by an army of various mechaniloids, most of which were not even Wily's. There were many viruses running rampant, thanks to Epidemic Man. To make it worse, the thunderous creaking of the huge Armoroids was a sound worse than any monster. The giant, Guts Man-like mechaniloids shot pulse after pulse into the cannons of the island, destroying them. None of the human's weapons were doing much more than leaving black scars across the machines or simply bouncing off. The smaller mechaniloids would have had no chance without the Armoroids, but now they fought with impunity.

"MUA-AHA-AHA-AHA-AHAAHAA!" Psycho Man's bizarre laughter echoed almost as loudly as the noise of his army. "Go forth, my minions, kill them all! Shoot-shoot-shoot, until they fall! WUAAHAHA-AHA!"

Psycho Man thought he heard something, but in all the chaos and noise he couldn't really tell what it was. So he ignored it. After all, there were exciting explosions, screaming people, and fascinating weapons fire to pay attention to. But then he heard it again. Psycho Man looked down.

Dive Man was there, waving up at him. "I said, look out-"

Three dive missles rammed into Psycho Man's face, smacking him while he was distracted.

"I did warn you!"

"Insolent pest!"

Psycho Man's electronic pulse began to zap downwards, and Dive Man dodged it with ease, suprisingly agile on land for a water robot. His later dive missles were easier for Psycho Man to take out, but he was managing to avoid hits almost as well. It was only a distraction, and a good one at that. Psycho Man was too busy trying to get Dive Man to notice that Bright Man was wrecking havoc with the Armoroids. All he had to do was get his flash stopper going, and the mummira army stood ready to take them down, though suffering many casualties in the meantime.

This too was only a distraction. Pharoah Man, unnoticed by all, was leading out the human refugees into a submarine. Or unnoticed by all but one. Epidemic Man stood still on the remnants of a blasted wall, neither moving or fighting or saying anything. Just grinning, grinning real big.

Okay, unnoticed by all but two. Algorhythm Man joined his brother, though he preferred to stay behind a still standing wall just in case Pharoah Man looked that way. He was shinier, after all.

"Epi, there's no one in the panic rooms." Algorhythm Man said. "I checked them all. Any stragglers are taken care of by the mechaniloids. Are you sure you want those humans to get away?"

"They aren't our targets, why would we care? If we wish that badly to kill them then we can do so after we have fufilled all we can of Dr. Wily's directives." Epidemic Man turned to face his brother, happily amused. "If you're finished here you can run along and get the next part of our plan ready."

"But if Dr. Cossack isn't inside - and he _isn't_, I can assure you - then he's got to be with those escaping."

"Oh, he's not." Epidemic Man was only too delighted to answer his brother's fear. "He's still on the island. I've been watching the refugees, and he's not among them. He thinks that staying away from them will keep them safe. I suppose he's right, for now. Once they leave Cossack will attempt his own escape, and that's when I'll catch him. Run along now. I know you want to. Get the pilot mechaniloids ready."

"See you then, brother."

"Have fun, Al."

Algorhythm Man teleported out, and Epidemic Man merrily returned to watching the humans for a couple of minutes.

_Ping!_

The plasma blast bounced off the Proto shield without doing a nick of damage. Epidemic Man lowered it only enough to get a glimpse of his attacker.

"Really, Dr. Cossack, I wouldn't attract attention to myself if I were you. I did inform you earlier that it was folly the last time you attacked me, and here your blue bomber isn't here to bail you out."

"Where did you get that?"

Cossack, armed with his plasma cannon and covered in his black armor, spat bitterness from his vantage point on the hill. From his place he looked uncannily like a robot, and Epidemic Man only grinned wider.

"This thing?" the Cain-bot lifted the Proto shield. "Why, I stole it from Proto Man after I murdered him. Where else would I get it? Oh, don't answer that, it's rhetorical. A question I would like answered is why you bothered to show yourself when you could just leave - assuming none of us caught you, that is." Epidemic Man started to walk closer to Dr. Cossack. "After all, you're one of our targets. So is your daughter, in fact. Oh, wait, this isn't some sort of false bravado for her sake, is it?"

"I'm a man that likes to stand up against enemies like you, that's all." Dr. Cossack kept his aim locked on his enemy, backing up as Epidemic Man came closer.

"Then why aren't you shooting? Oh, wait -"

Almost before Epidemic Man could anticipate it, a Pharaoh shot had come his way. But it too faded to nothing as it hit the Proto shield. But what mystified the Cain-bot the most was that Pharoah Man's eyes were closed. A bright flash of light went off.

"That would be Bright Man!" Dr. Cossack announced. "Dive Man, is he - oh! You did a good job there."

What he meant was that Dive Man had severed Psycho Man's legs, and with the flash stopper still hanging about in the air, there was nothing Psycho Man could do to stop Dive Man from inserting a chip in the Cain-bot. Epidemic Man noticed with dismay that Bright Man was headed in his direction.

"If that's supposed to be some sort of virus," Epidemic Man's scorn was evident. "Then your plan is flawed. We can't be infiltrated by the likes of a third-rate robotics technician like you."

"It's not a virus." Dr. Cossack said calmly, his eerie look actually frightening the Cain-bot. "It's the three laws. You've killed a lot of humans."

"NO!" Epidemic Man screamed, his eyes widening in fear.

But not fear for himself. He jumped on Bright Man, kicking him to the ground as he ran to Psycho Man. But it was too late. Dive Man had already inserted the chip into the electronic Cain-bot's neck, and Epidemic Man shoved the Cossack-bot aside, grabbing his brother. The programs had their hold on Psycho Man, and he was shaking and shuddering in Epidemic Man's arms.

"Epi...Epid...I'm-m done-done...this was t-t-tt-the lasst fun..."

"Psycho Man!"

There was nothing that could be done. The clown-bot was dead. Epidemic Man slowly turned his evil grimace at the good guys around him, glitches rocking him in his pain.

"What are you looking like that for?" The grim Dr. Cossack stood there firmly and without pity. "Wily wanted you to die eventually. That was a part of his plan. If you wanted to live then you shouldn't have gotten involved."

"Die, you old fool!"

Dropping his brother's remains, Epidemic Man engaged his emp wave and lifted his left claw to strike, tearing out Dive Man's eyes and flinging him to the ground. Bright Man used his flash stopper again, but to his horror, it had no affect. Instead he got to stare down the malevolent gaze as the last thing he would ever live to see before his head was ripped from his shoulders. Looking around for Dr. Cossack, the furious robot found himself surrounded by several angry mummiras. Epidemic Man tore through them, furious to find someone to kill and satiate his thirst for vengeance.

The tattered metal of the last mummy-bot hadn't yet settled to the ground when Epidemic Man dashed away, taking to the air for a better vantage point. Turning up his auditory sensors, he began hearing a faint whisper below.

"Get my daughter to the sub."

"Master, I cannot leave you-"

"Do it! It's all for nothing if she dies!"

Epidemic Man grinned, despite himself. _You're a fool, Cossack, if you think for one moment that I would spare either you or your daughter, even if Wily had not specified you as a target._

The Cain-bot hadn't been still as he thought this. He had swooped down to collect Bright Man's head and a piece of his Psycho Man's orb collar. And then he waited, hiding behind ruin as he watched to see where Pharoah Man went. He was losing patience, but he knew it would be that much sweeter if he waited. His patience was soon rewarded by the discovery of Kalinka; she was hidden underground under a large chunk of the fallen metal wall. It was so heavy that Pharoah Man needed two of his mummiras to help him lifted. Out of it crawled a very miserable and sweaty Russian woman, trying to get her hair in order as she was rushed away.

_So vain..._

Epidemic Man vaulted out from behind a now trashed laser cannon. Pharoah Man was ready to fight, but what he wasn't ready for was the flash stopper. Using Psycho Man's lightning orb collar to light the bulb, it flashed brighter than it had ever been meant to. Even Epidemic Man was stunned. But for Pharoah Man it was worse. The ordinary flash stopper was his weakness, and this bright it sapped him of his power in an instant. A torpedo blast from Epidemic Man later, and Pharaoh Man was sprawled out on the ground, completely still. The two mummiras didn't last long.

Kalinka screamed as the devious robot neared her, but two blasts from behind distracted Epidemic Man. He turned in time to catch the third one in the face. Desperately trying to save himself, Epidemic Man unleashed his EMP, but it did nothing to stop the hot plasma that rained on him. Worse yet, Kalinka had her own plasma pistol and was shooting at him from behind, and the Proto shield could only protect him from one angle at a time. With a strained grunt, he leaped away from the onslaught, seeing that it was Dr. Cossack firing at him from a above a small incline.

_The fool found me, did he?_

Kalinka screamed as she saw the blue and teal blur charge for where she knew her father was standing. She had recognised the shots earlier as from his rifle. There were more shots and a metal crunch, but Kalinka had to cover her ears. Frightened and confused she reluctantly removed her hands and listened. It was all quiet.

"Papa...?"

A voice called out from over the hill, where Kalinka couldn't see.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear, I'm afraid that dear Papa is too busy dying to pay much attention to you. Just kidding! I'm not actually sorry."

"You-!" Kalinka gasped.

She was frozen for only a moment before the rage came. Angry, hot tears spilled down, and she stubborn started to run to where she had heard the voice come from. As she got a glimpse of the enemy robot, she fired, but he was too quick for her. Before she knew it, her pistol was smashed to bits, and the relentless arms of Epidemic Man were around her, threatening with each passing second to squeeze tight and strangle her. His still bloodied claw dripped all over her, streaking her face along with more tears. She didn't have to guess whose blood it was.

"You should have run while you had the chance." Epidemic Man whispered, knowing the exact tone to use to produce the most fear in a human. "Scream. Cry out for help. Beg for mercy. Make these last few moments you have left entertaining for me."

It surprised him when Kalinka did none of those things. He found himself holding a limp girl in his arms, and she slid to the ground as the unexpecting robot stood there dumbfounded.

"What's this? Fainted?" Epidemic Man groaned. "How disappointing."

Epidemic Man wasn't kidding. He genuinely wanted her to panic before he broke her neck. Missing out on the pleasure of it was too much to bear, so he tried to stop thinking about her potential screams and desperate pleads for him to spare her life. Hopefully the next human he found would be more deliciously afraid.

"I guess I've got to dispose of you, for now."

Her sweaty, dingy, bloodied form disgusted him, and her breathing made it still worse. So he put his giant left claw over her face, preparing to rip her neck apart. But as he did, Epidemic Man was astounded to find out that he didn't want to. Instead he reached down and lifted her, sitting her against the side of the laser cannon. Dirt was encrusted on her face, and he tried to wipe it away, but his sharp hands were really no good for it. It was like scratching the side of a fork against a doll's face. He gave up and left the now dirt-smudge alone.

Anger welled up inside him. It wasn't fair. He by no means felt sorry for her, and as a technician she was due to be killed just as Wily planned. But he had been originally built to help humans. As criminal as Dr. Cain had been, every single one of his robots was made to show humanity the error of its ways, not destroy it. Somewhere in his head was a lost little AI program, telling him that killing her was wrong...not only wrong but also undesireable. He didn't want to kill her. Epidemic Man gritted his teeth, as if trying to get the unconscious woman to realize exactly how much he hated her. He hated all humans, and his mind had no right to disagree with him.

But the point remained that he didn't really want to. With the sport of it gone, it just wasn't fun anymore. He slammed his fist into the ground, searching for some excuse to spare her. There was nothing. Wily wanted her to die, and he wouldn't be free unless all of his forced obligations to the mad doctor were settled. Epidemic Man reached around her neck.

"Oh please, no!"

Epidemic Man swung his head around, furious that he had let his guard down long enough for someone to sneak up. But all he saw was a blonde girl in a red dress.

"What did you do to her?" Roll sobbed, trembling and wishing that she hadn't come. "Oh no..."

"This isn't her blood." Epidemic Man retorted, starting to get crabby. "It's her stupid father's. If you don't believe me you can go look over the incline there."

Roll didn't move. She couldn't take her eyes away from Kalinka's fallen form, and she couldn't stop the multifarious worries that rushed through her CPU all at once.

"Who are you, anyway?"

The girl-bot jumped. Epidemic Man didn't know who she was? Well, there was no point in giving away that she was a robot. Fortunately a human name popped up in her head in time.

"I'm...Lara Hikari..."

"Alright, Lara, if you really want to save her," Epidemic Man saw his chance. "Then you have three chances to stop me. Why shouldn't I kill her?"

"Ah, um...she's going to have a baby!"

"What?" he snorted. "Humans are miserable, smelly things. Would I really let her live because she's going to spawn another? Next!"

Roll tried to force herself not to cry. "Please...she's never done anything to you!"

"Neither did all the other scientists I killed. Oh, and no, she did shoot me. Last chance, Lara."

"But she's not a scientist!" the girl-bot said. "She tried to learn a couple of times, but she always slacked off! She even dropped out of college to get married! Didn't you check her record? She only went for two years! The best thing she ever built was Dust Man's laser, and she was taught how to build that! All she knows how to do is simple repairs! I beg you, please don't kill her!"

As "Lara" started to cry, Epidemic Man paused. Besides the wonderfully entertaining begging, something else she had said piqued his attention.

"So...she can do repairs on robots? Oh stop blubbering and answer me, miserable girl!"

"I think so...I don't know how good she is..."

Epidemic Man rubbed his chin. "I saw Dust Man's laser. I _like_ Dust Man's laser. Alright, shut up now, girl, you've done your job. She lives for now. You wouldn't happen to be a medical doctor, would you?"

"I'm a registered nurse..."

"Good enough. Get over here and make sure she'll wake. If she can fix myself and my remaining brother, then she'll do well for herself. You just might get out alive yourself, little Lara. What are you still doing over there? Shake a leg!"

Roll hesistated because her legs were the most robotic thing about her. There was no helping it now. Fortunately Epidemic Man wasn't paying attention. He had wiped his bloody hand on Kalinka's dress, and was now thinking. Wily hadn't wanted any Cossacks to survive, so he was going to have to get creative if he wanted to have a technician. He smiled gleefully as he remembered one last order that would let him out of it.

**"Bah, don't worry about the lesser ones," Wily had said, referring to scientists. "Just kill the important ones and move on."**

_Done, and done!_ Epidemic Man congratulated himself before he noticed Roll very reluctantly trying to get his attention. "What do you want?"

"Eh...I need to get a first aid kit from inside the building..." the girl-bot shrank back as she answered. "I'll be right back..."

"Oh sure, you'll go inside and get help or a weapon." he scoffed. "I'm tired of little humans trying to be heroes. I'll get it myself, and you had better still be here when I get back! Where are the med kits in this ruin, anyway?"

"If...if the halls aren't collapsed," Roll stammered. "I think you can go through the main hall and then it's the last door on the left."

"Fine. Remember what I said."

"Yes...yes sir!"

And Epidemic Man walked off, looking back once. But Roll was only taking Kalinka's pulse, so he moved on. Roll contained her sigh of relief once the enemy was out of sight. They weren't in the clear yet.

_Please let Rock get here soon!_

"Roll..." a weak voice creaked from behind her.

It was Pharaoh Man. Roll cautiously went over to the extremely underpowered and blind robot as he struggled to gather enough energy to speak. "A sub...bearing...z34.5...go there...Kalinka..."

"I will." Roll nodded. "And I'll send Rock to come and get you."

"Go...now..."

Roll picked up Kalinka as hastily as she could (not that hasty - she was trying her best to be gentle), and took off at a run, hoping that Epidemic Man wouldn't somehow appear in front of her.

"Stop!"

His sharp voice cut into Roll, and she stopped even though everything inside of her told her that it would be smarter to run.

"Clever one, aren't you?" Epidemic Man stepped over Pharaoh Man's body, clucking his tongue at Roll. "If you had anything to do with this facility, 'Lara', then you would know that medkits are stashed every so often in the halls. I'm not even familiar and I noticed this. Also, for a little girl, you're doing well lifting Cossack junior. Might you be a robot, perhaps? Sentient, the pity. I'll have to destroy you."

But he was standing too close to Pharaoh Man. A red orb encased him, and Roll took off again, determined not to stop for anything, especially since she could hear the echoing blasts as Epidemic Man destroyed the Egypt-bot. Or so she guessed. She certainly wasn't going back to make sure.

There was only so fast that the girl-bot could run, and Epidemic Man was faster. He flew overhead, coming in close so that he could get Roll without killing Kalinka. But a purple streak blurred his vision, and purple blasts hit him shortly after that passed, forcing him into a clumsy crash landing. Before he could recover, Bass snagged the Proto shield from his back, swinging it against Epidemic Man's face for good measure.

"That's not yours."

"You!" The Cain-bot kicked out Bass' legs, making sure Bass knew who the superior robot was as he stood menacingly over him. "You're going to die, rest assured of that!"

He teleported out. Bass grumpily got up and brushed himself off.

"Why didn't he fight you?" Roll asked, trying not to give away how afraid she was.

"Eh, he wants Algorhythm Man to fight me for some reason. I really don't get it." Bass' upper lip flared at the sight of all the devastation. "Roll, is there any reason to stay here?"

"No." the girl-bot answered, staring at the dirt and trying not to think of Dr. Cossack. "There's a sub nearby. I think Kalinka is fine, but I want to take her to a hospital just in case. And Bass...thank you for getting his shield back."

"I wasn't going to let _them_ have it. Now let's go."

-t-

Rock looked terrible. He had just spent the past few hours protecting a group of humans from marauding Wily-bots and rebels, and had killed Spring Man and Grenade Man in the process. But there were no scientists among them, and the Wily-bots' attack on their group seemed more random than anything else. Mega Man didn't know what to think anymore. The attacks were endless, and Mega Man never before had to fight so many robots, especially ones that used to be so innocent. It pained him. But for now, these human would be safe. They had for themselves a settlement in the mountains, and it was actually rather nice, with nice, homey cabins and several trees.

Focused on the environment, he was the first to notice when the three figures approached.

"Bass? Kalinka? ROLL?"

Mega Man ran towards them. They were a sorry group, and Kalinka looked so broken, pale, and numb that he was afraid to ask what had happened. Automatically Mega Man took Roll's hand, sensing that she was afraid.

"This place is safe, right, Rock?" Bass asked, sounding every bit as bitter as Kalinka looked.

It didn't take a genius to guess that the security island had been attacked.

"It's as safe as anywhere else, nowadays." Mega Man said quietly. "But there's no reason why anyone would target it, and it's far enough away from the infected robots that they wouldn't come here for just random destruction."

"I guess it'll work."

He eyed Kalinka to see if she would object to staying there, but she didn't answer. The young woman walked stiffly forward, her only concession to weakness being one hand over her stomach. Roll was glad that there had been extra clothes for her on the sub. She couldn't imagine how horrible it would be for her if she still had to walk in bloodied clothes.

One of the humans walked up, a tall, stately man with hazel hair and deep brown eyes. Mega Man introduced Kalinka to him, and he gave his own name, Sam Peterson. He was the medical doctor of the group, and he gently took her arm, talking to her about the group and what medical facilities they had. It may have looked like a vacation beauty spot, but the basements were well equipped. It was much more than what it looked like. All this information barely registered to Kalinka. She shuffled along, staring occasionally at the wedding ring she still wore. To Roll it looked like Dr. Peterson knew exactly what to say; he said something quietly to the widow, and Kalinka almost smiled. The robots let them go ahead, talking about what had happened on the island.

"Wow, that was really brave of you, Roll." Mega Man smiled warmly at his sister, trying to focus on the positive. "I'm proud of you."

"I was lucky." Roll muttered, holding her arms as if she were cold. "If Epidemic Man didn't want a technician then there would be nothing I could have done."

Roll had been staring at the grass (how dare it be so green at a time like this?), so it took her completely by surprise when Bass reached over and patted her on the head.

"Don't talk down about yourself." the melancholy robot said, barely any life in his eyes at all. "Someone is alive because of you. You did a good job."

But Roll's mouth had wrinkled up, and she was a bit stunned by Bass' awkward gesture. Realizing exactly how strange this was, he too grimaced, then pulled back his hand.

"Er, sorry. I'm used to Treble."

Trying to find some way to diffuse the awkwardness, Roll turned to Mega Man - and immediately regretted it. He had fallen behind the other two, and was now staring at the dark robot with concern.

"Bass...why do have the Proto shield?"

Bass' eyes widened. He had forgotten it was still on his back.

"Roll, go check on Kalinka."

She obeyed, growing even more sick on the inside. As she caught up with the humans, she turned back to Mega Man and Bass. Somehow being out of earshot made it easier to watch. Rock's expression was serious, but mere seconds later, horror and despair so filled her brother's innocent face that Roll almost couldn't bear to watch. But her gaze couldn't leave the scene. She couldn't hear them, but it was easy to read Mega Man's lips and guess his next question: "how?" Bass' back was toward her, so Roll couldn't see his explanation. Mega Man seemed lost. He weakly lifted his hands - as if weights were on them - until finally they reached up and covered his face. He shook with each glitch. Still as a statue, Bass was apparently saying something, judging by Rock's reaction. He pulled away his hands, revealing the hurt as Bass handed him the red and white shield. That was when Roll finally shut her eyes.

She thought this was the worst day of her life.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's notes:

======Dr. Cossack

**"Science applies to everyone."**

Good point: Caring father

Bad point: socially awkward

Likes: rationality

Dislikes: tricks

Mikhail Cossack is an only child. His father was a quiet but studious man, and his mother was a highly opinionated and clever speaker. Both of them expected Mikhail to have more to do with politics, but he was a less dramatic person than they, and he preferred studying things like insects and ancient history rather than much to do with modern times. His parents could afford to send him to a good college, but his love of observation brought him to look at science. Cossack never liked arguing or debates that much, because he saw science as the discovery of truth, not as a mere pondering. He's a very honest and relaxed person, unless you get him started on a topic he knows a lot about.

Unlike Light or Wily, Cossack was not the sort of person who preferred staying a bachelor. He was simply too busy with his own interests to pursue women for most of his teen years. His best friend throughout his teen years had a sister, Sonya, who had always been sort of a weak person healthwise. When Cossack was fifteen and she was twelve, she ended up staying for an extended period of time in the hospital, and her mom wanted her brother to spend more time with her. Being a good friend, Mikhail came along, and, being the not very socially aware person he was, he would generally only talk about his science and mechanics. While he thought of it more as a lecture, Sonya was impressed and always ready to listen to more. Once Cossack hit college, he realized he knew absolute zip about talking to women. Hilarious results ensued. Finding himself expressing his frustrations to Sonya, he finally figured out that being with her was far more tolerable than being with anyone else.

For her part, Sonya was a quiet, gentle person who wrote poetry. Everything interested her, and she liked listening to Mikhail. She crushed on him earlier on, but to her he seemed like a giant or a hero, someone way out of her league. But they ended up married, and she was never happier. Mikhail earned his doctorate in medical biology and had a masters in modern robotics, which he used to create his first robot Pharaoh Man. Sonya was always interested in Egypt, and Pharaoh Man was built to go with them on the trip to Cairo they had always planned. Kalinka came along right about the time Dr. Cossack got a new job with the Russian government as a lead biologist, and life was great. Drill Man was built for extra funding for his research.

The family had just gotten back from vacationing in Cairo when Sonya fell ill, soon to die from it. Kalinka was only a year old. Dr. Cossack had a hard time recovering, but his science kept him going, besides his daughter. He spoiled her as much as he was able, and because of this and his time consuming job, he never really dated again. It wasn't that he refused to, he just didn't know much about it and never expected to meet anyone that met his standards like Sonya did. He was still very awkward around women unless they're scientists and have something to talk about.

For years things were more or less quiet for him, and with Pharaoh Man's help he managed to take good care of Kalinka, who was more and more starting to favor her mother (and act like his mother). Figuring he could use more help around the lab, Cossack started building Bright, Dive, Toad, and Dust Man. Dr. Wily, still aggravated from the failure of his last scheme, saw a ripe opportunity in Cossack. He kidnapped Kalinka and forced Cossack to turn his robots evil, adding Skull and Ring Man to what he had to build. Hence the events of MM4. All of the robots were eventually defeated, and after a legal battle Dr. Cossack was able to recover control of his robots, and because of this experience Dr. Cossack became even more knowledgeable about robots.

By rescuing Kalinka, Proto Man was mostly just trying to help his brother bring justice, but after that he became a favorite of Dr. Cossack's, and he would show up at Dr. Cossack's lab at time to time for a repair or to just check on Kalinka. Cossack only got more easy-going as he aged, so he let Proto Man come and go as he pleased. He also helped Mega Man if he ever needed to come to Russia, but other than that and generally protecting Russia, he stayed out of the fights with Dr. Wily and pursued his own interests.

When Bass came to stay at his lab, he was surprised at how easy-going Dr. Cossack was, and appreciated being able to go as he pleased without so much as a "where are you going?" from Cossack. For this part, the Russian doctor was convinced that Bass wasn't a threat because Mega Man had always been able to defeat him. Of course he never said this outloud.

Over time Cossack was hailed as Russia's greatest mind, and became a teacher at the university where his own daughter attended. Alyosha Polovstiansky was his best student, and he felt like he had already adopted Alyosha before he knew that Kalinka was interested in the young man. While the courtship was a bit too short in Mikhail's opinion, he nonetheless was happy that the two were married.

- Psycho Man and Algorhythm Man are Epidemic Man's favorite brothers. He doesn't really like Bullet Man, which is why he sent him on the most dangerous mission: taking down the space station.

- I learned from a microwave show on youtube that if you microwave a bulb, it'll light up. I figured it'd be the same with electricity and Bright Man's head. It's surprising how educational it is to watch stuff getting shoved in a microwave. True story: if you microwave a bottle of gin, after a while it'll suddenly vaporize.

- this chapter's depressing song is Carry Me Down, and well, it's really sad. I think it fits the really sick nature of this chapter. I'm not going to lie, I had a really hard time with this chapter, but I'm finally happy with it. And I was expecting I'd have it done real shortly after the last chapter. But oh well. I hope you like it anyway. Oh yeah, link to the song. www. youtube. com /watch?v=oD2t1qLJGLQ


	13. Broken Promises

When Rock came in, he had to force himself to look at Proto Man's body. He kept trying to see a sign that it was some sort of fake, but it was his brother. He knew it. Treble had bitten his leg a long time ago, and the replacement metal they had used to fix it didn't quite match Proto Man's other leg. Mega Man lowered his head, sobbing over the table as if his power core would break in two from all the grief.

"He destroyed the activation device." Bass' voice cut the quiet. "He saved some of his memory data on a disc, and from what Auto can tell, it's impossible activate Zero now. Remotely, anyway. Also, not even the Cain-bots knew where he was hidden, so for now Zero's out of the picture for now."

"That's good..." The words caught in Mega Man's tightening vocal actuator. "Was there...anything else?"

Bass was doing his best to be comforting (or to simply be less awkward), so he attempted to keep from the snarl he so much wanted to do. It really helped only a little. "Not really. There was old stuff about Cain Castle...and how it was a trap. And then there was the invasions of the safe territories with the Armoroids. All that there is left is to kill us, then destroy Monstropolis and this lab."

Rock looked up at his sister. The poor girl was huddled on one of Dr. Light's old lab chairs, despondently avoiding meeting the gaze of anyone in the room. Walking over, Mega Man pulled up a chair for a moment, sitting by her as he placed a hand gently on her shoulder. She had barely known Proto Man before, and now he was gone. The brother and sister sat there sullenly as Auto started to check Rock's buster, equally sullen. A beep sounded at a computer, and Auto went over to it, waving Crystal Bot away to acknowledge he would handle it. However, as soon as he got to the computer, he looked over in her direction again.

"I found Jewel Man..." he said solemnly. "He's dead."

That chilled the air. Rock could sort of see the monitor of Jewel Man's broken remains behind Auto, but he like everyone else, tried not to look. Instead everyone's gaze went to the shiny girl-bot.

"What is everyone looking at _me_ for?" the indignant Sonata, getting more angry the harder she worked to keep her grief under wraps. It didn't work. "Jewel Man's a butt. I hate him and I don't care! I DON'T!"

With that, she ran out of the room, wheezing through gritted teeth as she failed to force away her sobs. Roll got up and tried to go after her, but a dark hand pulled her back.

"Let her go." Bass muttered. "There's no talking to her when she's like that."

Bass dropped Roll's arm, and she uncertainly drifted a few steps away. Bass didn't seem to want to stop her, so she went after Crystal Bot anyway. Bass was being distracted by Mega Man, who was suddenly standing next to him.

"What do you want?"

"Come over this way a minute."

So Bass followed the blue bomber over to the side of the room, expecting that Mega Man was strategizing or wanted to show him something on the computer. He folded his arms expectantly. Mega Man, however, was starting to look adorable again, with his large, sad eyes. Being entirely immune to the concept of "adorable", Bass gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Bass, you know we need to get rid of those last three Cain-bots." Mega Man began. "They're the ones in charge of all of this, and we've defeated the Wily-bots before, the ones that are still left."

The dark 'bot knew all this, and began impatiently wondering what the point of this was. "Yeah?"

"I'm going to have to face Epidemic Man, sooner or later."

"I'll get Algorhythm Man. If that idiot wants to fight me, then so be it."

Rock shook his head. "Bass, please let me finish. This isn't about that. Wily upgraded Epidemic Man, and I don't want to make any assumptions. Please promise me this: if I don't make it back, please protect Roll. She's not strong..."

Bass was stunned. "What the crap? You wanted to talk to me about _this_?

"She's my sister." Mega Man said plainly. "And I'm going to give all I have in this next fight. With all that's happened, I can't guarantee that something won't happen to me. I have to know that she'll be safe."

"You're not going to die, Rock." Bass growled. This new nonsense was getting on Bass' nerves, and his eye wandered to find something more important to do. "You're going to kill the bad guy and come back like you always do."

"Stop it, Bass!" Mega Man's sharp tone caught the dark robot's attention. "This is not the time for pride, on anybody's part! Please, I couldn't stand it if something happened to her because I wasn't there to protect her! She can't manage on her own...not with the world like this. You've got to watch out for her! Promise me you'll keep her safe if I die."

"Rock..." Bass was starting to get angry. "You're going to make it back."

"Promise me!"

Dumbfounded, Forte stared down at the blue robot in wonder. He simply couldn't believe what Mega Man was demanding of him, the pure intensity of his grieving eyes, Bass was convinced the bomber was sincere. But what did it matter that Mega Man wanted this? Rock wasn't going to die, Bass assured himself. He was too lucky. He had to be, or else Bass would have defeated him already long ago...and then Bass' pride fell flat. A pinching feeling inside him made itself known, and Bass sighed.

"Okay, I promise. Now don't cry about it."

"Thank you, Bass."

Mega Man breathed out a simulated sigh, more relieved than Bass understood. But the dark robot just shook his head. He was about to walk away when Mega Man spoke up again.

"If something happens to you, do you want me to take care of Crystal Bot?"

It was a stupid question, and Mega Man realized this the instant Bass circled around. The hideous glare he wore...was actually a lot weaker than it usually was. Something in Bass was wrong, and for one second his permanent arrogance wavered.

"Crystal Bot can take care of herself. Eh, except when she does something stupid. Just don't let her do stuff like that."

"Alright, I promise!"

Seeing the dopey, relieved grin on Mega Man's face only annoyed Bass further.

"Darn it, Rock, look what you're doing to us." Bass growled, showing the viciousness he was feeling. "By saying crap like that you're assuming you're not going to make it. You're dooming yourself already. I'll tell you what's going to happen: we're going to go out there, kill the bastards, and stop this crap before it goes any farther. Then we'll meet right back here when they're all dead, and you'll see that I'm right. Got it?"

"Got it." Mega Man smiled.

This lecture didn't temper Mega Man's happiness any. In fact, it was strengthened him to know that he had such a confident ally. He saw Bass' doubts, and he saw his fears. But he also knew that there was no robot in the world more determined than Forte. Algorhythm Man was doomed.

"Auto, what do we know about Epidemic Man's or Algorhythm Man's locations?" Mega Man asked as he returned to the others.

"Nothing so far." Auto answered.

"And is everyone evacuated from Monstropolis?"

"The army's here. Since Hanson Mechanics had their own custom anti-virus, there are a few robots left there, and I think since they know Wily has it out for this place they want some sort of last stand. They think they can capture one of the Cain-bots."

Mega Man nodded. "It makes sense. I'll lead the operation myself. It's better that I handle Epidemic Man anyway. According to these plans there isn't much else left. I'll contact whoever's in charge with what we know."

Before he got to it, the blue bomber took a look around at the others. Crystal Bot had returned to the room again, and was absentmindedly patting Rush, trying to gain some comfort by scratching behind his ears. Roll was still sitting alone to the side, barely paying attention to anything around her. Auto was still going about his work, trying not to think too much about what was going on. Bass was quiet, looking at Mega Man as if he was waiting for something.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Everyone, please listen to me." the blue bomber began. "I know that things have never been this hard for us, and it looks bad even now. But this isn't the end. It's not over at all. We still have the works of Dr. Light, and we still have Mega Man X. No matter what Wily planned, he won't win. He can't. Not with us here. We can put a stop to this once and for all, and it will be the end of Wily's influence forever. All we have to do is take care of Algorhythm Man and Epidemic Man, then the rest will be easy. No one's going to destroy robotics as long as we stand up for justice. So take heart. Things are going to get better from here."

The little speech had only a small affect on Bass, but it counted. Bass had always been annoyed by the optimistic banter of Mega Man, and he figured that it would end with this "apocalypse", but no, there it was. He thought that it was all just happy-go-lucky rhetoric, and yet here in the darkest of times, the retoric was still there. It actually impressed Bass.

"Hey, Forte-kun." Crystal Bot tried to get his attention. "I meant to tell you before you left again about how I upgraded your teleporter."

Bass stared dully at his technician, and she fidgeted uncomfortably. "Eh, well, I sorta merged your normal teleportation system with one of my new devices. Your teleportation is now stronger, and you can teleport away a robot that doesn't have a working teleportation circuit. Algorhythm Man might be able to stop it, I dunno, but he won't know about it until you use it, so...it's something..."

Bass blinked, still staring at her a little incredulously. Crystal Bot lowered her head. It didn't work for a distraction, but Bass had to give her credit for trying.

"I told you to do that years ago."

"Yeah...it's sorta complicated. Didn't figure it out until now."

"Eh, thanks. Hey, what's the status on your teleportation devices anyway?"

"Uh, Rock has one, oh wait, Algorhythm Man messed that one up. Roll accidentally smashed one, and since I merged the other one with your systems, that leaves one I have that still works."

"Good to know."

"Alright," Mega Man looked up from the screen he was sitting at, powering it down as he spoke. "Bass, the military's calling for us. We need to go."

"Yeah, yeah."

"_Bbashya_!" Crystal Bot said with a genuine smile barely covering the genuine hatred she felt for the Cain-bots. "Kill 'em dead, Forte-kun! Oh, and you better back up your memory now, okay? That's what I made your secondary systems for."

"_Bbashya_ yourself." Bass replied. "Just keep your eyes open monitoring me, okay?"

"I will!"

Mega Man went over and gently patted his sister's shoulder. "I've got to go. I wish I could be here for you, but things will only get worse if we don't stop the Wily-bots now."

For just a moment, Roll thought she hated Rock. Here he was, going off again into danger right when she needed him the most. She didn't want to be alone, waiting in the lab while he went off with his heroic duties. She didn't want him to die, and she swore that she would never forgive him if he did. It was bad enough in the old days when he would fight the robot teams, but now they were without the cheerful countenance of Dr. Light, or the hope that Proto Man was out there, ready to help.

"I understand, Rock."

-t-

When the battle against Monstropolis came, Mega Man wanted to be ready. He for once wanted to have the home field advantage, for the Cain-bots to have to guess what was going to happen next. The humans had gotten their last, greatest anti-robot cannons and lasers out, as well as the few robots that had belonged to scientists and didn't have mainstream anti-virus programs on them. And as badly as the fight had gone to save Dr. Cossack, at least several Armoroids had been destroyed. But the main focus to getting ready was to attract the attention of the Cain-bots and get them to show up at the right time.

And that was why Bass was wandering around the robot museum. The place was long since unpowered, and walking through the dark halls with the corpses of dead robots all around filled Bass with a sense of bitter dread. He still didn't understand the point of not recycling them, especially since any of the robots could simply be stolen again. But he shook it off and went on. The real purpose of this was in the back. Bass didn't know how the Cain-bots would find out he was doing this, but if this was Wily's plan, then they would find out. So he approached the grave of his creator, buster ready.

The headstone was even creepier in the museum than it would be in a graveyard, despite the fact that it had been modernized to fit within the futuristic theme of the place. This didn't shake Forte. He stood there for a moment, entranced by his own hatred for the man. During Wily's lifetime, Bass had scorned and underestimated him, and he was paying the price for it now.

"Why couldn't you just give up?" Bass hissed at the display. "I was happy! Now look at all you've done! Is it this important that you prove you're 'better' than Dr. Light? Who cares?"

Bass didn't know why he expected some sort of answer. There was nothing, of course. Yet somehow that only made him more angry. He engaged his double busters and tore through the stone. He didn't care about the dust and the rubble flying all about him, he just kept firing until there was nothing left but a crater and a hole in the wall. And then he fired some more.

_There aren't going to be enough remains to bury you anywhere else...bastard..._

But he didn't feel any better than before. He stood there, seething and staring at the mess of plaster, metal and dust that he had made. It wasn't enough. Wily had torn his life apart, and it wasn't good enough to destroy his grave or his bones. None of that erased the mistakes he had made, the failures he'd had rescuing the poor saps that worked in sentient robotics. It couldn't restore the way things were, or bring back his broken lab, his books, and his dog. It couldn't stop the fear that constantly told him that he was useless. And it certainly didn't stop his lip from slowly twitching, opening wider to show off the growing scowl.

_**"GGGGRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"**_

Forte's hideous cry echoed off the cold walls, as did the multifarious buster shots that tore into display after display and shredded everything it hit. Bass just couldn't destroy enough. He hated his creator most of all for one thing: not being alive so that he could die at Bass' hands. Bass knew that this was Wily's perfect revenge. Wily got exactly what he wanted, and he wasn't alive to suffer consequences. And that only made Bass madder.

But there was no point in going on and destroying the museum itself. That did no good. Soon enough the invasion force would come, and then he would have his chance to tear down real bad guys.

"Y'know, I thought we were the ones that were supposed to be destroying history."

Bass snapped around to find Algorhythm Man cautiously, but not unamusedly, coming out from behind a smashed display of Bubble Man. Bass fired off two shots, but Algorhythm Man dodged these, jumping over to the top of the Fire Man display (which was miraculously still standing).

"Don't you want to talk?" Algorhythm Man seemed somewhat more insane that night, and if Bass had been calm enough to notice he would have seen the fatalism in his eyes. "I can tell you all about Wily before he died."

"Screw you!"

But again the Cain-bot jumped away with grace. "You see, Dr. Wily knew how badly I wanted to be the one to kill you. But no, he had to leave you as the bait for that stupid, ugly girl-bot he invented. 'Pinnacle of my creations'...the putrid thing. Balderdash!" Bass next hits actually smacked into Algorhythm Man's glowing chest, but the Cain-bot still managed to stagger away out of his next barrage, and he continued. "But Wily was not ungracious. He made me not offensively strong, but defensively! I can dodge, and my impact armor is excellent!"

It was fortunate for him that this was the case, because the crystal busters were firing what they could at the orange and neon robot, and finally he decided to actually return fire at Bass. Not that those few shots did much good other than distract Bass for a moment.

"And that's not all!" Algorhythm Man said. "The amazing thing is, Wily _changed his mind_! He told me that I could be the one to destroy you, if I succeeded, that is. After all, you're merely his first draft: error ridden and rebellious. You're not good enough to be destroyed by Master Wily's masterpiece!"

That comment earned him another barrage of double buster shots, but Algorhythm Man hopped away, getting more and more out of Bass' sight as he ran back through the halls of the museum. "To that end, Wily concocted a marvelous plan! Even you'll admit it's clever! And there's a LOT of collateral around...hee hee..."

That did it. Bass' rage was growing to its full, frightening potential, but he forced himself to stop and think. He could hear the noises of a battle going outside, and he realized that he hadn't been paying enough attention to his surroundings. Remembering Crystal Bot's latest upgrade, Bass began to think of a plan. He just needed to catch up with Algorhythm Man first...that robot was fast! He ran after the Cain-bot, hoping to catch him before something terrible happened.

Suddenly the sound of a huge weight falling rang out, and there was a groan in the distance. Bass ran up, surprised to see Algorhythm Man half buried under the carcass of a large maroon robot that somebody apparently had time to put on display before the whole apocalypse had began.

"Heh. Thanks, Gravity Man." Bass said as he reached under and grabbed Algorhythm Man's foot.

Bass teleported out, glad that he could take the Cain-bot with him. They reappeared somewhere in the deserts of California, a place that Bass knew to be completely empty for miles. They could fight here without hurting anyone else. Bass wasn't about to let Algorhythm Man have the opportunity.

"Oh, a new teleporter, eh?"

Using his close proximity to Bass to jump up and grab him by the neck, Algorhythm Man hacked Bass' systems, tearing in and eliminating his teleportation field generator. But before he could do anything else, Bass promptly ripped him away and fired. The battle was begun. But as they continued to fight, Bass had to admit that Algorhythm Man's armor was ridiculously annoying, despite the number of shots he was getting in. Offensively, Algorhythm Man was terrible, but the tedium of wearing him down was unbearable.

"What is that crap?" Bass snarled. "Half-met armor or something?"

"Precisely!" The Cain-bot seemed delighted that Bass noticed. "You see, with my special weapons having to fly here instead of Monstropolis, you've bought yourself a bit of time. You're a Wily-bot, so naturally you're strong, so not just anything will take you down...not even myself, I'm afraid. But I don't have to _beat_ you, per se, but just hold you here until the nukes land. Now that you can't teleport, well, it's that much simpler, isn't it?"

"WHAT THE HELL? You made NUKES?"

"Ahahaha!" Algorhythm Man laughed heartily, and Bass at once heard tones of Wily mixed in. "Oh no, no, nothing of that sort. We merely stole them. After all, there are a number of little fascist countries that had hoped to better their standing in the world. The pathetic beings! Now I have their weapons, and my mechaniloids are flying them in now! You see, you can't escape the fate Master has laid out for you, Zero or not!

"You can't possibly want this!" Bass yelled. "Don't you want to live?"

"Of course I do!" the Cain-bot snapped back. "But I got what I asked for...revenge against you! I only wish...perhaps I should have told Epi..."

Bass stared at him like he was the dumbest thing ever, an expression he hadn't used since he had been forced to stay in Skull Castle with the robot masters. "You're programmed to not be able to run away, aren't you? The only way you can keep me here is die yourself."

"I said, I'm getting what I want! Dr. Cain is dead, but now all I can do is avenge his dignity by destroying you! What good is freedom if I haven't done that?"

It was sickening to hear those words. Bass knew that Algorhythm Man was not merely upgraded, he was corrupted. He was another insane slave of Dr. Wily, Cain-bot or not. Bass almost felt sorry for him, but instead he just shot him again.

-t-

Roll walked away from Auto's monitoring station. The fight in Monstropolis was getting to hard for her to watch, and she was surprised that she had remained there for so long. But even though she knew he was strong, Roll couldn't bear to watch her brother fight so many. She had been planning to leave the lab and try to distract herself with something else, but she happened to walk by Crystal Bot's monitoring screen, and saw a glimpse of the desert on the monitor. Where in the world had Bass gone? Why wasn't he at the battle with Rock? She stood behind Crystal Bot at the computer control panels, listening in terror as she heard the conversation between Algorhythm Man and Bass.

_" - Sonata! - " _Bass signalled the monitoring station._ " - You're still monitoring me, and you heard what this idiot said, right? - "_

"I did...oh, Forte-kun, how are we going to get you out?" Crystal Bot fearfully spoke into the computer's microphone.

_" - Shut up! - " _Bass fired off more shots as he continued the transmission. _" - It's more important that we kill this guy, and I think it's too late for me to just run, otherwise he wouldn't have said anything. You've still got that one teleporter that isn't messed up, right? - "_

"Um, yeah!" Roll quickly brought it to Crystal Bot from the place it sat on the table. "I've got it!"

_" - Good. I have to be quick killing him, so I'll stabilize the energy crystals in my arm busters to create instant death spikes, and then- - "_

"Forte, no!" Roll covered her mouth in shock as Crystal Bot went on in almost anger. "How do you even know how to do that? You can't handle that kind of energy going through you! You'll die!"

_" - I said SHUT UP! - " _ Bass dodged a few more colored pellet shots from his enemy. _" - You taught me a bunch of technical crap about this kind of stuff, remember? I just had to do the math. Now how long can I maintain the energy before it kills me? - "_

"Uh...anywhere from one to five seconds..."

_" - Crap, I'll have to be quick. What's the chances of you being able to repair me from that kind of damage? - "_

"Assuming I can get all the right parts, 53.6%"Crystal Bot sounded like she was going to cry.

_" - That's good enough. Once I kill him, you can teleport here and get me before the nukes land. He won't be able to stop you then. Got it? - "_

"Yeah...I got it."

_" - Sonata, remember what I always tell you: anything to win. Say it. - "_

Crystal Bot slowly leaned forward into the microphone, reluctantly speaking. "...Anything to win."

_" - That's my girl. - "_

Bass cut the transmission. It was a lot easier to fight without a weepy girl-bot in his ear. So now all he had to do was quickly lure Algorhythm Man close enough to grab him and stabilize the crystals in his arms. The thought of it was a bit frightening even to him, but he steered his mind to strategy. He tried to think of Algorhythm Man's weakness, and cursed as he realized it was the psycho pulse: another close range weapon that wouldn't bring the enemy any closer.

_"Those stupid powers never turned out to be useful...wait, I'd bet anything that Wily made it so that he doesn't have a vulnerability to the pulse. If he's heavily armored, it shouldn't work anyway. I'd also bet that this guy thinks I'm an idiot and that I won't realize that. So he might risk getting close just to make me look stupid._

Bass equipped the psycho pulse, and sure enough the spiteful Cain-bot's dissolved, and he got too close. Activating the pulse, Bass grabbed Algorhythm Man's arm.

"What a fool! Don't you realize that armor this thick - "

" - is a great conductor for death spike energy!"

The dark, gleeful smile on Bass' visage actually lasted for a second after he activated his energy crystals, but as the pink glow encompassed the two robots, he began to scream along with Algorhythm Man. With a bright flash, the two robots fell apart, and Bass' metal body slumped back into the dirt, an expression of absolute horror on his face as the smoke rose from his busters. Algorhythm Man's neon panels stopped glowing, and he two was a smoldering ruin.

"That's my cue."

Crystal Bot forced herself to remain strong as she spoke to Roll. After all, Bass was going to be alright, most likely. But Roll was beside her at the computer screen, and had witnessed the entire horrible thing. She was still shaking, and Crystal Bot was starting to wish she had made Roll stay in a different room. There was no helping it, so Crystal Bot just picked up her teleportation device, winking at Roll before she activated it.

The scene was even worse witnessing it in person, and seeing the horror that death spike energy wrecked on the metal bodies was terrifying. The fact that one of them was someone Crystal Bot cared deeply about made it worse, and she gasped at the sight. Kneeling to inspect his face, she smiled faintly, trying to scrape up any hope she could muster, as if being optimistic could help him somehow.

"Well, let's not waste time. Come on back to the lab, Forte-_pahboyah_-kun." She gently reached under his neck with one arm as she reset the coordinates on her teleporter device, pressing the return button. "You're so silly, mister."

Nothing happened.

Mystifyed, Crystal Bot looked again at her device, taking away her other hand from Bass so that she could check its power level. She figured she might have to drain some of her energy to recharge it. But the power level was fine. Only when the creaking laughter grew loud enough did Crystal Bot understand. She looked down at the broken body of Algorhythm Man. As dirty, smoke-stained, and broken as he was, the robot was still managing an evil cackle, and the slightest tinge of an evil red glow remained in his dim eyes. And he was still managing to interfere with her teleporter. They were trapped. The now useless device fell from Crystal Bot's hand.

"Oh, why are you so evil?" she screamed.

But it was useless. The sound of aircraft engines was in the air, and there was nothing left for the girl-bot to do but snatch up Bass' body and start running, glitching as the horrible, dying laughter chased her away. Trying her hardest to focus, Crystal Bot realized that there was nowhere she could run in time to escape the blast radius. It just wasn't possible.

_" - Sona-chan! - " _Roll's frightened voice called over the line. _" - Please tell me what to do! How do I get you out of there? Don't you have a plan? - "_

_" - Shut up, shut up, shut up! - "_ Crystal Bot's voice cracked as she sent the transmission. _" - I'm trying to think of something and you're freaking me out! - "_

Despite the rush and the worry, Crystal's mind was still working its hardest for a solution. Crystal Bot paused, pushing Bass further up over her shoulder. In the distance she could see a small town, but decrepit. Engaging her zoom told her that the place was dirty, rotting, and long since abandoned. Then it occured to her that this was a place that Bass had often gone in the past to be alone, especially when he wanted to concentrate on writing his book. Crystal Bot never understood why he preferred this dank old shanty town to linger in, but that was beside the point at the moment.

_" - I know what this place is! - " _Crystal Bot exclaimed. _" - It's an old ghost town from a gold rush two hundred years ago. But nobody lives here anymore 'cause there's no more gold. - "_

_" - But how will that help? - "_

_" - Where there's a mining town there's a mine. It's should work like a rudimentary bomb shelter...maybe. It'll probably collapse, but you record these coordinates and have Rock or somebody come and find us. I'm gonna cut the transmission now, but you do what I said, okay? Just get the computer to target in on my coordinates, then come dig us..zttt...zerrt...twonk. - "_

"Sona-chan!" Roll shrieked into the computer's radio. Not only was she losing audio contact, but the computer was not able to pinpoint Crystal Bot's location either. In fact, everything except for visual monitoring was off.

"Of course he would do that!" Roll gawked at the computer screen as this realization sank into her like a poison. "The Cain-bots planned it this way so we could...see them...die..."

But Crystal Bot was oblivious to all of this. Hoping that Roll knew what she was doing, she ran scans of the area. She hadn't been there often, and it was going to take a few seconds to find that mine. But after a perilous scan Crystal finally found it, and it was thankfully closer than she had formerly believed. Running underground past old mine carts, over old railings, and ducking under broken support beams, Crystal Bot took Bass further and further underground.

She knew about the dangers of nukes. There was the explosive blast itself, but the growing feet of dirt above them would help...to an extent. Then there was the alpha and beta radiation, which would do little to no damage to a robot at all - it was the radioactive part of the nuke that would slowly cause cancer over time in humans. Sonata figured that Roll would understand this better and be sure to quarantine the area.

But no, the very worst part of the nuke for them would be the gamma radiation: the instantaneous blast of electronic energy that would act as a massive EMP wave. This EMP wave would be no joke. All robots were protected against some degree of electromagnetic pulses, but not at this level. It was too strong, and it would suddenly wipe away all of the memory on any computer nearby - on any robot nearby. As Crystal Bot ran further in the dark, she tried her hardest to remember how deep it was she needed to be for the EMP to be worthless. It was fifty, or maybe sixty...feet? Yards? Meters?

She simply couldn't remember. And it didn't matter anyway. She had come to a rock barrier, and there was no way to go any deeper. Fingering the wall for any weaknesses proved only a waste of time. So Crystal gently sat Bass down on the floor, and she sat beside him, leaning on his shoulder like a child. She allowed herself to glitch a couple times as she turned up her auditory sensors, trying to hear what was going on outside the mine. She wasn't sure, but it seemed like the planes were getting quieter.

"They're passing us by, Forte!" she delightedly tugged at his arm. "They got messed up somehow!"

Listening more, Crystal was getting more certain that the planes were departing. But that didn't matter anymore. A piercing whistle cut through the air, and the very sound of it made Crystal Bot jump with fear. She immediately turned down her auditory sensors. She didn't want to know when it was going to happen. Instead she clung tightly onto Bass' arm, knowing that it would be easier to find them if they didn't get separated. She clung on tightly.

"We're going to survive this, Forte-kun..." Sonata whispered faintly. "I promise."

She closed her eyes. She never noticed when the bomb hit the ground, or when the roof of the man-made cave collapsed down on them. Instantly the EMP cut through her mind, wiping it clean. All there was left was two metal things deep into the dirt, cut off from all else that existed.

Roll couldn't see this, but her view was undoubtedly worse. The sattelites that allowed the monitoring systems to work only showed the outside of the mine, and Roll could see the shockwave as the blast tore through the barren dirt and the aged cabins. She turned off the monitor, sinking to the floor. She was still sitting there, hours later, when Rock came back. He looked terrible, but there was still a smile on his face, a faint one, as Auto helped him over to the repair table to have his armor replaced.

"That was some fight," he croaked, sore-sounding as he sat down on the table. "But I think...I think a lot of the Wily-bots were destroyed. Monstropolis...but never mind. Robots all over the world are shutting down, and the last Wily robot masters were taken down right here. All of them at once...attacked Monstropolis."

If it were possible for a robot to be exhausted, that would have been Mega Man. Ever the optimist, he was just happy that things were cooling down, that the worldwide destruction was lessening, dimming. Things were going to get better.

"Bass..." he croaked. "Bass, where are you? Roll, is he in an automated machine?"

For the first time since he had come in, he noticed where Roll was. She looked at him, and she couldn't have looked more sad if she'd had actual tears in her eyes. There was no need for her to say anything. The faintly upturned corners of Mega Man's mouth sank, and his head hung down.

Bass had broken his word.

\\\

Author's notes:

======Dub

**"Zzzrt! Tweep-click-peep!"**

Good point: helpful

Bad point: a follower

Likes: cleaning

Dislikes: mean people

Forgot him, didn't you? I did too - I should have mentioned in the last chapter how he too died on the island. I talked about him defending Roll, but didn't mention hide nor hair of him anywhere else. Couldn't think of an appropriate way to put it in this chapter. Oh well. That's why people edit their stories.

Dub is a good robot assistant, and he was built specifically for Roll to help clean the house and help her be more mobile. He is very attentive, and always listens to her and tries to clean things up to her standard. He hates arguments, and especially hates it when people hit him. He's very innocent, and because Crystal Bot is not very good with AI, he's not as intelligent as other robot assistants and he has less personality. But Dub does his best to learn, and Auto has upgraded him to a point where he understands Roll very well. He doesn't have the ability to learn on initiative, but he is a patient listener, something Roll always appreciated in him.

- My boyfriend and my dad know all about nukes, and they're the ones that told me about all the radiation and whatnot. True story of their destructive power. I'm surprised we don't learn this kind of thing in school, from the teachers, anyway. High school guys can tell you all about rudimentary weaponry.

- For those of you who haven't read my other stories, _bbashya_ means something like "fighting" and is a Korean cheer, and _pahbohyah_ means idiot.

- This is a chapter I've had in my head since Okkusenman, and I hope you enjoy it. For the song, I'm doing Sixteen, a rough song that's about the end of the world. This song is one of my favorites ever, and I hope you enjoy it. www. youtube. com /watch?v=35qLiHOVGyg


	14. The Worst Thing Ever

Roll had no clue why Mega Man wanted to see the footage of Bass' and Crystal Bot's death. She begged him not to watch, but all he did was compromise by loading the footage from the computer directly to his head so that she wouldn't have to see it on the monitor again. But that wasn't Roll's worry. She didn't want her brother to have to see it at all. Why would he want to?

"I have to know..." was all he would answer.

And he hadn't spoken since. He bore the repairs given him by Auto patiently but grimly, and once he was as satisfied as he could be with the work, he went over to a computer and activated the microphone so that he could send a transmission. He cleared his throat.

"Epidemic Man, come in. This is Mega Man."

Both Auto and Roll jumped, but Mega Man waved them away, assuring them he knew what he was doing.

"But how do you know what frequency he's listening to?" Auto asked. "He might not be in range, either."

"He'll be listening." Mega Man explained. "He's still programmed to find all the sentient robots he can and make sure that they're dead. It may take a while, but - "

_" - Mega Man? I can't say I was expecting to hear from you. - "_

Rock stiffened, but leaned towards the microphone again and responded, "I want to challenge you to a fight."

_" - Oh? What do I get if I beat you? - "_

"It's a battle to the death."

Roll gasped, mouthing "no" as Epidemic Man responded. _" - Ah, I see. You just want to be rid of me. Well, I want to be rid of you, so I accept. And since you made the challenge, I choose where it's held. - "_

Mega Man cringed. This could be bad. "Alright, where?"

_" - Monstropolis. Meet me there in an hour. Is that to your liking? - "_

"That'll work."

_" - See you then! Oh, and Mega, you never answered a question of mine. - "_

_" - Yeah, what's that? - "_

_" - How about those Yankees? - "_

Mega Man shut down the comm link, wincing. "He thinks this is some kind of joke!"

He rubbed his brow and sighed deeply. He had never liked fighting in his life, but now this was worse. He had actually challenged someone? But it was necessary. He had to do something to make this last war end, and how else was he going find Epidemic Man?

"Oh, Rock," Roll stammered. "Why...why did you..."

Rock hugged her tightly, as if he would never let her go. "I love you, Sis. That's why. I have to stop this...I have to."

"Promise you'll come back...please..."

But Mega Man said nothing. He squeezed her once more, then shook hands with Auto. Rush approached him, wagging his tail encouragingly as Mega Man reached down and scratched him behind his ears. Roll warmed. This was Rock, the champion robot of the world.

_Oh please, let him come home safe!_

-t-

Epidemic Man was sort of happy. He had had a lot of fun in the battle against Mega Man, though he had always remained deftly out of sight. There had been so many fresh robots for him to corrupt; he was glad that Wily hadn't had his special "anti-virus" program on all of them. And now there were still plenty of soldiers in the Monstropolis remains. The city had been torn apart, and it now resembled the other major cities that the robots had hit: it was a smoldering wreckage as far as the eye could see. And as far as the nose could smell, apparently. Epidemic Man, like all robots, couldn't smell, but he got the sense from all the apartment gas heaters he had rigged to explode during the last battle that breathing wasn't exactly an easy task for the black-clad special ops still hidden in the ruin.

Yes, they were there, and yes, Epidemic Man could detect them.

_Heh, the frail humans. They are so fortunate I'm not after them this morning. _

Epidemic Man wasn't sure if this though cheered him or chilled him. There were many complex variables to it. After all, today he was going to face down Mega Man. He wanted this more than he wanted anything else, but at the same time he was afraid. Many robots had stood against Mega Man, and all had lost. These were not mere weakling robots either, as many people had assumed before the apocalypse had began. Needle Man, Elec Man, Quick Man...the list went on so long. The very thought of fighting this champion filled Epidemic Man with the kind of fear that doesn't frighten, but the kind that only intrigues and pulls you deeper into the danger. It was a delicious fear. The Cain-bot even licked his lips for good measure, grinning as he mused over all the upgrades Dr. Wily had given him.

_Ah, the good Dr. Wily. He has been a...worthwhile master..._

Epidemic Man had been about to say "kind", but of course this was by no means true. Wily was not kind to anyone: not innocents, his allies, and even his own creations. And Wily had not been kind to him. Not in the end. Sure, Epidemic Man was striking out against the people he hated so much, but his brothers were all gone. He was ironically cheerful about it. They had all sold their souls to robotic's devil, and were they really expecting that he wouldn't collect once he got what he wanted?

He shrugged, vaguely wondering why the humans didn't bother fighting him.

_Impudent things. They are so very narrow-minded that it is a miracle they don't strike now and call down their own deaths prematurely._

He wondered if he really could beat Mega Man. Again, he had to smile. He wasn't very afraid, though he knew the risks. All he wanted now was some peace and freedom, to wander around what remained in the earth. And to aggravate some third-world countries that had never gotten robots. He hoped that there were some tribal cultures left that still hadn't heard of them. Now they would be entertaining.

Epidemic Man knew in the end he would die. If not by Mega Man, then by Zero. Wily had very wisely shown some scans to the Cain-bots before he had died, and Epidemic Man was definitely afraid of Zero. If he had ever to fight Zero, he would try his hardest for pride's sake, but the fear he had for the red monster was not the alluring kind. It was the "start running for your life and don't stop until your legs give way" type. There was no way he could possibly beat him. Epidemic Man shuddered. But he had to focus on what he was doing. He was going to fight Mega Man.

_Hooray for me!_

Epidemic was both stunned and curious why the bomber hadn't thought of making the challenge before. Wasn't it the most obvious thing to do? If it hadn't been for how Wily wanted things done, he would have accepted such a challenge on day one. As Epidemic Man was glad he had chosen Monstropolis for it. There were buildings still standing, cars still untouched, and even a few of the streetlights were still working - or they would be if it wasn't daytime.

"Ah, there you are, Mega Man. Right on time."

It indeed was the innocent face of the blue bomber; his bright blue eyes stared up at Epidemic Man as the latter sat atop an overturned tank.

"So Mega, do you like what I've done with the place?" the Cain-bot asked mildly, the harsh sting of his sarcasm barely there. "I pride myself in being an excellent urban designer."

"I don't want to hear it!" Mega Man exclaimed, tears in his voice if not in his eyes. "What you've done is wrong, and I'm ending it now! You've killed so many...doesn't it bother you having done so much evil?"

"Evil?" Epidemic Man asked, hopping down from his seat. "Why, all the evil that has ever existed on the earth has come from humans. How in the world would killing them prevent evil? You're a bit two-dimensional, little Blue."

Mega Man shook his head, his determination unwavering. "No one did anything to deserve what you did to them! And you've done so much worse."

"Whatever. I really don't care."

"Then what do you care about? What could possibly make all this worthwhile?"

That was a real stumper for Epidemic Man. Things had gotten plenty out of hand. He had lost all of his brothers, and he had no one to repair or maintain him. But still he grinned, if only to annoy Rock. It was one of the few pleasures he had left.

"It's a bit late for that kind of thing, now isn't it?" he answered, casually checking the sharpness of his claw. "I couldn't possibly go back before everything and change it all. Now, I believe we have a fight to get under way, don't we?"

"That's right, we do." Mega Man already had his buster ready. "And then this will be over."

"It will be, will it? Then let's hurry up and get it over with."

Mega Man didn't feel like the fight was fateful. He already had his super armor equipped, and it could still be equipped even when he was merged with Rush. The EMP wave that Epidemic Man still sent out was therefore pretty much useless, and it was very handy that Mega could still fly for the fight. Those challenges being met with, the last weapon that Epidemic Man had was just his torpedoes. Mega Man was expecting the most epic battle that he had had in all of his fighting existence. This, however, was challenging as just another robot master. Definitely not an easy robot master, but not impossible. All the same, he could sense that Epi was toying with him. Mega Man wasn't foolish enough to take this for granted.

"Why do you bother with these people, Mega Man?" Epi asked, dodging a charged shot. "What's it worth to you? Get some sort of kick out of it, or something?"

Mega Man had to wonder why Epidemic Man was so interested. "I do it because I care about people. Because I believe in justice!"

"Okay, but what do you _get_ out of it?"

"I get the satisfaction of knowing that there is peace enough for everyone to enjoy life." Mega Man let loose a charged shot, and it plowed through Epidemic Man and knocked him to the ground.

"Well, you certainly failed at that!" Epidemic Man was not upset, he just got up and kept going, firing a faster torpedo. "There is no peace now! And all of your special friends are gone. Heh, did you catch Bass' death by the way? That was splendid! Got his little crystal-girl too!"

"Don't talk that way about him!" Mega Man dodged the torpedos, shooting one before it could smash into his armor. "Bass was a good robot and a great fighter! You don't have the right to say anything about him!"

"Hm, well, it was a bit annoying that I could not enjoy personally torturing him myself. Now Proto Man...that was another matter entirely...heh heh..."

Mega Man gasped. "No..."

"Oh come on, Mega Man!" Epidemic Man deftly dodged Rock's next shots. "You know I killed him. He wandered like a fool into my home. What else was I supposed to do? It was self defense! I hardly see how a red armored robot with a bright yellow scarf could be stealthy enough to escape my sight. Ha ha, though I suppose the continual forced power flunctuations I forced on him were a bit more...indulgent than self-defense would require. He barely lasted twenty minutes, the lamentably weak thing."

"HOW DARE YOU!"

Now, for most fighters, they more impassioned they got, the worse their fighting performance was. But it was just the opposite with Mega Man. Epidemic Man began to see how much danger he was in. He was having more and more trouble keeping the blue bomber at bay, and definitely regretting mentioning his brother. Mega Man was flying in closer and closer, and pretty soon Epidemic Man's ranged weapons would be worthless. Mega Man closed in-

**CRUNCH.**

Mega Man stopped. He couldn't move. A green plasma sword had cut straight through his helmet; it was now embedded into his CPU, with the hilt in Epidemic Man's firm hand. The booster from his Rush adaptor cut out, and he fell to the ground with a sick, painful sound.

Epidemic Man was stunned. He stared down in shock at what he had done, and slowly hovered to the ground to Mega Man's body, still holding onto his plasma sword. Carefully kneeling, ready to bolt if necessary, he reached out his left claw and poked the blue bomber. Rock's head turned, and the frozen look of despair in his eyes was enough to break anyone's heart.

But Epidemic Man wasn't equipped with one of those.

"Hee heh HA AHA HA! I don't believe it!" Epidemic Man shouted as loudly as his vocal actuators would allow - very loud, in fact. "YES!"

Mega Man's armor glowed, and Rush de-merged from his master, barking in rage as he jumped straight for Epidemic Man's neck.

"Oh no you don't, dog!" Epidemic Man slashed through Rush's body, killing him in seconds. "Nothing will stop me now, for I HAVE DESTROYED THE INVINCIBLE ROBOT!"

Epidemic Man allowed himself several more cheers before he calmed a bit, trying to think of what he should do next. There were still several humans around, and they would likely fire soon. But this didn't bother the still elated Cain-bot. So he cut off Mega Man's head, removing the helmet hoping he hadn't damaged it too much so that he couldn't hack into it. Then he flew upwards into the air, where he could be seen by all.

"Humans of Monstropolis, HEAR ME!" Epidemic Man announced with a merry snarl. "I have bested your champion, and I am now the greatest robot that exists! You will all now serve me or die! And just in case you think there is any hope left...ha ha...focus your satellites at _this _location!"

And he flew off.

-t-

Auto and Roll had seen the entire thing. Roll stood there, numb, sinking to her knees. The worst thing in the world had happened. Up until this point, Roll had been hoping that things would end. After all, Epidemic Man was the only enemy left, and with him dead she could go back to taking care of Kalinka, and life could somehow persist in all of the death and destruction it had faced. Auto would be fine, Mega Man...would be fine...

But that future was not going to be. Roll knew it now. Every last hope she had believed in had failed her. It was all a lie. There was no future.

"Roll!" Auto's sharp voice quickly got her attention, as did the fact that he was getting his bazooka. "Those coordinates Epidemic Man sent out were for this lab! If he can hack into Rock's mind then he can deactivate several of our security measures and just walk in! Get to the second basement now!"

Crying as if she would break, Roll ran past the repair tables and automated machines, heading downwards into the first basement. But even as she did, she could hear a devastating crash as a wall burst in, and she ran downstairs to the sound of Auto's bazooka and the sickening sound of tweets. Some of them were the Clefs, Crystal Bot's last remaining pipies, and one of them had to be Beat. Roll didn't dare listen anymore. Soon enough she was downstairs trying her hardest not to hear the destruction above.

The first basement was a collection of files, spare parts, and prototypes of different technologies Dr. Light had been trying to build. Roll ran past them all to the far end of the room, where the part of the floor could be lifted up to the secret, second basement. She would have to be fast -

_**THHOOMMM!**_

Roll's scream was completely drowned out by the sound of the roof collapsing down. It hadn't come from above her, but only a short ways from behind. Even so, there was no escape now. Epidemic Man, the cause of it, had come down along with, blithely looking around for more things to destroy. If Roll tried to get into the second basement now, then he would find out how to get to Mega Man X. So she just huddled in the corner, behind an old bookcase, and hoped that the Cain-bot hadn't yet seen her.

But he had. He walked up, brushing back a bit of her hair. Wondering what was going on, Roll fearfully peeked over her shoulder. And that was when Epi grabbed her by the throat and pulled her upwards. She cried out weakly, tugging uselessly at his strong hand as his evil face showed exactly how much he enjoyed her fear.

"So...Lara Hikari, is it? Or Roll Light, rather." he mused, not in any particular rush. "How are you?"

Her whimpering grew louder, and she sobbed rather than reply, wishing she could think of something that would hurt him as much as he had hurt her.

"Okay, that was a stupid question, I admit it." Epidemic Man shrugged. "Poor thing, dealing with the loss of your brothers, your friends, and that Auto fellow all in the space of a week."

Hearing about Auto, she wept harder, giving up the struggle to free herself. What good did it do?

He ran his hand through her hair meticulously, causing her to shudder. "Aw, there there, now, sweetheart. I'm not going to kill you."

"You're...n-not? I...I don't believe you!"

"But really, it's the truth!" Epidemic Man placed her back on the floor, gently even. "Haven't you suffered enough? I'm not completely merciless."

Roll shivered like a ghost, unable to speak.

"Ah, now that's hardly polite. Now what do you say?"

The words struggled to come out of Roll's mouth. "Th..thank you..."

"You're welcome!"

Epidemic Man jumped upwards, disappearing into the upper floor where Roll couldn't see. The girl-bot shook violently as she collapsed, finally releasing her agony with weeping. She really was alone. Where could she go? What would she do with out Rock? So many questions filled her head, but all she could do was cry. She looked upwards, hoping for...well something. At the very least, one last pipi so she wouldn't be alone.

Roll wasn't alone, alright, but there was no pipi. Epidemic Man was standing there on the edge of the hole he had made earlier, his gleaming smile full of poison.

"I did say _I_ wouldn't kill you." he said. "And I won't. But all the rubble from the building collapsing certainly will!"

He blasted the remains of the beams and tiles overhead, and Roll could barely scream one last time before the beams and tiles left her buried in the rubble. But Epidemic's laughter and rampaging didn't stop with Roll's screams. He blasted and shredded the laboratory until there was nothing left standing to fall on top of the last Light sibling.

It was just as she had suspected. There was no future.

-t-

Roll woke. Everything was dark, but her body had managed to restart. Several of her systems were cut off, as she was running in low power mode. But there was enough power for her to turn on some light. She could only see part of what was around her, though there was little of that to see. Beams, computer parts, plaster from the walls, and other various whatnots had her pinned down. She tried to move her legs, but it was no good. She looked down to find that both of her thighs had been severed through when she had been crushed.

_How am I still alive...?_

She powered down the light. What was the point in looking at anything? Instead she used that power to turn up her audio, trying to hear something. Maybe someone would find her and dig her out.

_Who am I kidding?_ she spitefully scolded herself. _Who's going to find me down here? Who would even look?_

Roll lay there a moment, dizzily pondering her next move and trying to see which of her limbs still worked. Left arm, okay...right arm, stuck, but not broken...and fortunately her head had been protected. The beam to the right of her head had fallen before the one that was now lying across her vision. Roll shuddered to think what would have happened if the first beam hadn't been in place.

There was some noise in the rubble, a quiet noise. Roll engaged her light again, but barely managed to see the tail of something before it slunk away. Pouting and very frightened, Roll almost cheered once she heard a voice coming from outside of the ruin. It seemed so far away.

"Please, someone help me!" she yelled. "I'm trapped under here! Hello?"

"I see you! Hold on, I'll get you out!"

"Thank you so much!" Roll called out before she noticed something odd.

_"I see you"? I can't even see out of this wreck and he can see me? How strange..._

It took much longer than Roll had expected for all the junk to be removed, but eventually strong arms hauled the last I-beam off of her, and she was able to see the clear night sky, full of stars.

"You really look like crap, Roll."

Roll's rescuer carried her away and placed her on the nearest ground clear of rubble. Roll looked up to thank her rescuer, but instead just gasped.

"Snake Man?"

It was him, from his distinctive armor, search snake buster that left him with only a left hand, and especially unique helmet, complete swinging tail. Snake Man rolled his eyes as his search snake slithered up and holed up back inside the Wily-bot's buster. "Calm down. Sheesh. I'm not going to hurt you."

"But...why did you help me?" Roll wished with all her heart that her legs were intact.

"I don't have anything else better to do." Snake Man replied. "The Cain-bots didn't destroy a lot of the news stations, so pretty much everyone who could was able to see Rock's fight with Epidemic Man. I thought it was a trick at first, but now..." he looked out over the remains of Light Laboratories. "I guess it wasn't."

Snake Man said this not as if he was sad or angry or sympathetic, but just indifferent. Indifferent with a touch of fatefulness, and a small sigh. He just calmly folded his arms, pausing for a minute to look around.

"Oh hey, I brought back your brother." Snake Man said. "I guess you can't repair him now, though."

Roll turned where the Wily-bot pointed to see Mega Man's body lying in the grass. He was sprawled out, limp, and still missing his head. The part of his neck that had been severed by the plasma sword was melted together, and there were many dents and spark scorching where he had been hit by Epidemic Man's torpedoes. Roll covered her mouth and began weeping and glitching as if she could never stop. She looked to Snake Man for support, but he was walking away

"Please don't leave me!" Roll begged. "I can't stand being alone!"

Her teary voice made Snake Man cringe, but he turned around anyway, thinking. In the end he returned, sitting next to a battered and leg-less Roll with a heavy sigh. He held out his hand.

"A truce." he said. "Between the robots of Wily and Light."

"Truce..." Roll replied, a little confused. But she shook his hand anyway. "How did you...I mean, aren't you part of the apocalypse?"

"No. That was due to your brother." Snake Man seemed willing to answer. He stared at the night sky as if his story was written there. "Years ago when he and Bass destroyed the last Skull Castle, all of the robot masters scattered. I was lost, and with Wily arrested there was nowhere to go. I ended up stranded in Australia. Wily was going to escape prison sooner or later, so I figured I'd find something worthwhile down there before I returned to everyone else. Wily...he wouldn't like it if I came back with only excuses as to why I didn't help him get out."

Roll knew that was an understatement.

"But then I got distracted by poachersss...sssstupid idiotssss." Snake Man hissed. "Those animals were legally protected, and they had no right to trap them! You wouldn't believe how many people thought that they could get away with it! Not on my watch! So, I stayed and protected the wildlife. I couldn't go back after that. If I told Wily I had left him for nature, then he would have lost it. And once he died, there was no reason to go back at all. Australia is nice, or it was...there were a lot of robots down there."

The snake-bot kicked at a chunk of plaster before continuing. "I thought about going back, once, only Freeze Man found me one day and told me not to. He tried to explain why, but there was some sort of failsafe on him that wouldn't let him say what it was. So I didn't."

"I remember Freeze Man..." Roll spoke up reluctantly. "He attacked Monstropolis alone one day for no reason. Rock told me that his last words were that he wanted a good pose in the robot museum."

"That was what Freeze Man always wanted." the Wily-bot replied gruffly. "To live as free as he could, then spend forever as a key display in the museum. Freak. But not too bad a guy. He must have told the others I was dead, because no one ever came looking for me after that."

"How did you escape the apocalypse?"

"Easy, I hid. I am a snake, you know." he took pride as he spoke, grinning. But that grin faded. "Eh, but it's hard when the humans started searching for me too because they thought I was in on everything. It's easy to hide from humans or bots, but both at the same time is tricky. But when you have skill, you have skill!"

"Yeah, and you're humble, too."

"Shut it." Snake Man snapped, reminding her that he was not a nice person. "Let me have my pride. It's not like I have anything else right now."

Roll found herself slightly jealous. She didn't even have that.

"Naturally, when I heard what they said was going on, I didn't believe it." Snake Man continued, losing more of his temper. "Wily wouldn't do that to us! We're his robots! His legacy! He couldn't have wanted us to all die...that was Dr. Cain! He was the one who tried to make us die with the rest of the miserable robots! Wasn't it?"

Roll was silent, expecting Snake Man to just go on. But she looked up, realizing that he really wanted to know. Of course, with her being the sister of the hero, she would know what Dr. Wily had intended for his creations. And she did. She had heard what had happened, despite her best efforts to ignore as much as she could: Wily wanted his own creations to be destroyed even more than he wanted the others to be. They were failures in his eyes, setbacks and goofs every one. The girl-bot looked into Snake Man's eyes, and she pitied him. He, for some demented, pathetic reason, wanted to be liked by his creator. But Roll couldn't bring herself to lie.

She looked down at her hands. "You knew Wily better than I did. If you say he didn't want to kill his creations, then I can't tell you any different."

"Right." Snake Man affirmed, forcing away any doubts. "We are magnificent machines! If it weren't true, then I wound have survived this long! It was stupid Cain trickery that got the rest!"

He wasn't looking in her direction, but she smiled at him anyway. He was so sweet, and a little sad. Roll decided she wasn't so jealous of his pride anymore.

"So what do we do now?" Roll asked. "Is there somewhere we can go that's safe?"

"He'll find us. He found me twice already." Snake Man glanced disdainfully at Roll, his eyes full of judgement. "And if he found me again, I couldn't escape dragging you around. And I can't win fighting him. Especially not if he can beat Mega Man."

The Light-bot allowed her depressed gaze to look at her brother, though she painfully turned away again, closing her eyes.

"Hey, I know! Where was that big guy that was around a while back...uh, the alien...Duo! Yeah, Duo. Couldn't we get him to handle it?"

Roll shook her head. "He left Earth right after the evil energy was dealt with. And even if we knew where he was, we don't know how to contact him. Hey, what about King? He did survive being defeated by Rock and Bass. We got a letter from him-"

"No good." Snake Man didn't bother letting her finish. "Dr. Cain killed him a long time ago and then used his parts to figure out how to build robots."

"Oh...well I can't fight him, so we're going to have to hide until the army does something about it." Roll gave up.

"I told you, that's not possible."

"Yes it is. Do you have an energy pellet or E tank? My teleporter isn't powered enough to work right now."

Snake Man pulled out a couple of small pellets, obviously reluctant to share. But he held out two in his hand, and she quickly took them and ate them. She felt her power level rise, noticing that there was a power leak somewhere. That could be dealt with, she guessed (hoped).

"Alright." she said, switching her finger into a zip drive so that she could plug it into Snake Man's neck. She was surprised he let her. "Teleport to these coordinates. We'll be safe there."

Snake Man looked at the numbers curiously, noticing that they weren't very far. He let Roll teleport away before going himself, and he found himself in what looked like a vast storage room. Bookshelves were full of things varying from discs and tools to bottles of unknown liquids and diagrams of strange machines. Much to Snake Man's delight, there was a whole cabinet full of E tanks and loads of energy pellets. Large pillars held the place up. There was also a strange thing on the wall that the Wily-bot didn't recognise. It was a large, circle-shaped space in the wall, and it was lined with some sort of machinery around the inside edge.

"Roll?"

"I'm over here!"

Snake Man found the girl-bot trying her hardest to get onto a rolling chair, and for convenience's sake he lifted her up onto it.

"What is this place?"

"It's a secret bunker under the lab." Roll answered. "It holds all of Dr. Light's work notes and blueprints of lots of his inventions. It's a spare lab for emergencies. Epidemic Man doesn't know about it, so we'll be safe here for a while."

"So what's that?" Snake Man pushed her chair so that Roll could see the thing in the wall.

"That's where Mega Man X is kept." Roll said this only little louder than a whisper. "In 25 years he'll wake."

"Who?"

Roll looked up at Snake Man, confused. "Mega Man X. He's a new, complex model of my brother, and he's supposed to be more intelligent than any robot created until now. You didn't know about him? Wily's known for a long time."

"He didn't tell us everything." Snake Man harumphed, not wanting to talk about it. "But if he's so smart, why don't we just wake him up now? He can take down Epidemic Man."

"That can't happen. Mega Man X is so smart that if we set him loose before all his morality standards were set, then he could turn out an even worse villain than what we have now." Roll recited what Dr. Light had always told her, then anxiously started twisting her hair. "Besides, I don't know the teleport code to get into there, or any of the security codes either. Rock never told me because he didn't want someone to kill me just to find out."

Snake Man started, and he swung the chair around so that a stunned Roll was facing him. "You mean to tell me that Rock knew the codes?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"No buts!" Snake Man stuck an indignant finger in her face. "Epidemic Man has his head! If he can hack into Rock's mind then this place isn't safe at all, and neither is your precious Mega Man X! It's just a matter of time before he hacks into Rock's brain and figures out about this place, no matter what kind of anti-virus he uses! These supplies would keep Epidemic Man battle-ready for a long time! We don't have a choice. We have to kill him now. By trickery, if nothing else. Think! What kind of weapons do you have down here?"

Not waiting for a reply, Snake Man started rummaging hastily around the bunker to see what was available, making a fine mess in the process.. Roll's spirits sank even further, and that wasn't just from being yelled at by a robot she would have considered an enemy less than half an hour ago. She looked to the teleporter in the wall, biting her lip as she thought of her youngest brother. She hardly knew him, and if Epidemic Man found them, she never would. But she loved him. X was the only brother she had left.

Roll closed her eyes, desperately searching her mind for some solution to her problem. Finding nothing in her recent memories, she started searching through her older files, scanning every time she remembered getting a security briefing from her blue brother.

**"Don't be too upset at yourself." Rock smiled. "It wasn't too long ago that I let sent a broken robot to the labs thinking that he was a friend...yeah, that was a learning experience to say the least. Bass ended up wrecking the entire lab. I'm just glad you weren't there that day."**

Roll remembered when her brother told her that. He was trying to reassure her after they found out that Crystal Bot belonged to Wily. Dr. Light had recieved lots of new information from Gravity Man after Crystal Bot, Bass, and Team 5 had become good guys, so she skipped forward a bit further, hoping that she would find something helpful there. And she did, but it wasn't what she expected, nor even wanted. Pushing herself from bookcase to bookcase, she went past the storage area to the three automated machines that were kept in the hidden lab, then went past them to the computers (getting around on a rolling chair was a lot more complex than Roll thought).

She searched the computers that lined the far wall, and to her surprise and faint dismay she saw that what she was looking for was still there.

"Snake Man...I found someone who can help us..."

He emerged from the storage cabinets and peeked out at Roll, then curiously walked up. "Who's that?"

Roll lowered her head, taking a deep breath. She didn't like what was before her, but it had to happen nonetheless.

"Crystal Man."

\\\\\\

Author's notes:

======Mega Man/Rock

**"I'll protect the world!"**

Good point: Sense of justice

Bad point: Reckless behavior

Like: Animals

Dislike: None

Japanese CD data:

Good point: Strong sense of justice

Bad point: careless

Like: Animals

Dislike: Things that disturb peace.

Ah, Mega Man. He's actually the hardest character to write about. This is mostly due to us playing from his perspective, and so we think more about the personalities of the robot masters rather than the protagonist. Ironic, ain't it? But as we all know, the little blue guy is cute, naiive, and innocent. I like how he's reckless, as that means he'll often do things without thinking them through, or say something awkward through his innocent nature. Y'know, what I'd really like to see is a fic that really gets into Rock's behavior. Unfortunately, this one is not it.

I love Mega Man. To me he means innocent adventuring, the kind that nobody really shows in movies or video games anymore. I love those adventures, where the open protagonist meets new people and has amazing swell times in a brand new world. I love how he never thinks of darkness, and has a pure mind and pure motive to just help people. We need more heroes like that, with a pure love, a pure heart, and a whole mind.

And then I killed him. Yeah.

- So yeah, I was going to put up the author's notes right up in the middle of this chapter, that way you'd think it was shorter than it really was, but apparently the guidelines don't like that. So I shall be good. I've been trying to keep this story at fifteen chapters, just like how Okkusenman turned out, and I think that choice really killed my suspense here. It would have been funnier if I just made it look like Roll was dead, but you know from my intro Roll survives a bit past this. Haha, I'm too entertained by you guys being tortured by all the deaths. I'm talking to one reader in pms, and she's trying as hard as she can to get me to make Bass and Crystal Bot alive again. Please continue making reviews of this nature, as it makes me laugh. Not for nothing am I GrimMoody. Muaahahahaha!

- Okay, now this was really the chapter that made me want to have a soundtrack. This one is Clubbed to Death, a song that really makes me feel the mood of this chapter. www. youtube. com /watch?v=0RudpFzGLbo It's kind of a common song, so I'm also going to share a link to a really decent remix. www. youtube. com /watch?v=29-5Ka2gj_M


	15. The Hardest Thing is Saying Goodbye

Snake Man stared at the plans on the computer with astonishment. He never realized that Crystal Man had done anything like this. In fact, most of Crystal Bot's origin story was news to him, and he silently contemplated it without interrupting as Roll explained everything to him about Crystal Bot, the secret upgrades for Team 5, and the unexplained provision of weapons upgrades for Roll herself. The long gone crystalline robot had even provided programming settings for the automated computer, so that they didn't even need a tech-bot to perform the upgrades on Roll. That is, provided nothing went seriously wrong. Neither Snake Man or Roll had the proper background (or now, the proper parts) to create these sorts of upgrades on their own. They had to hope that the automated machine could do its work without needing outside influence.

"Crystal Man really left this for you?" Snake Man wasn't sure what to make of it. "Wow...maybe he really could see the future."

"I doubt it." Roll bitterly shook her head. "If that were true he would have saved Crystal Bot and not me."

Roll looked uneasily at the upgrades. Sickness, a new one and different from before, filled her. This was not what she had wanted for herself. By no means did she want to be turned into a fighter-bot. She had always had Rock to fight for her, and secretly she had been very happy that Team 5 became good guys. She thought that they would put a stop to anything Wily did. But that didn't happen. Now she was staring her fate in the face, hatefully wishing that someone (did Dr. Light or Auto do it?) hadn't put Crystal Man's gift in the second lab. Why would they do that? Did they want to be able to examine it while they were working on Mega Man X, or something else below?

Roll couldn't escape it. It was all around her now. A thought that had been haunting her for longer than she knew about it finally made its way to the surface of her thoughts, and it made her quiver. She had been letting everyone else fight for her, and she had remained behind. What had Roll ever done besides sweep the floor or dust the blinds or do the dishes? Guilt flooded her mind, confusing her. She protested it, telling herself that she had always been there to take care of Dr. Light. She wasn't the defender of the earth. No one could expect her to be.

The guilt remained unhampered, and it made her glitch. Roll knew her weakness. She knew that she was far too afraid of fighting, and now she was too afraid of what would happen if she should fail. This fight would be worse than any other her brother had fought. When Rock had fought the Wily numbers, he had always a home and a family to come back to, and a grateful world that cheered him on all the way. But what did she have now? X needed a quarter of a century to awaken, and even then he would barely know who she was. The world was a mess, and humanity was facing the largest crisis it had ever met with in its entire history. Decades of being dependant on robots, the great devastation done to them and their cities -

"Ssssstop that! Now!" Snake Man grabbed the rolling chair she was still riding and turned it so she could see his angry visage glaring down at her as he lifted his hand as if he would strike her. "Don't you dare cry! I'll kill you if you cry!"

Even more frightened than before, Roll stiffened, forcing down her emotions as she tried to breathe normally. It wasn't easy to do with Snake Man staring her down, his relentless glare showing that he was by no means a good guy. It made her want to cry so much harder. But she managed to stop, to control her breathing. Snake Man relaxed.

"Good, that'ss better." he said, a firmness still lurking in his voice. "Don't you ever cry. Not for a second. Rock is dead and so is everybody else, and you whining about it isn't going to help. You're going to get those upgrades, then use them to kill that sssssstupid Epidemic Man. You're NOT going to get out of it and there is NO OTHER OPTION, so you're going to do it and you're going to like it! Underssstand me?"

"But...but I-"

"NO BUTSSS!" Snake Man roared. "There are no alternatives! Not now! It doesn't matter what you want anymore! Do you want more people to die? Because they will! I'd kill Epidemic Man in a second, but no, I have to rely on pathetic _you_! You're not going to fail me now! I want that bastard dead, and if you have any brains than so do you! Now get into that automated machine, and for the love of crotalus, DON'T CRY. Got it?"

Roll nodded, trying her hardest.

"Ssssay it!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

This made Snake Man smile a bit, in a nasty sort of way. "Heh, good. Now come on."

Snake Man pulled her out of the chair and carried her to the automated machine. Laying her down, he fastened the necessary straps to her arms and started loading the upgrade program into the machine. Roll looked up at the screen that still held the upgrade data, and she frowned.

"I'll have to lose one of my hands to get this upgrade." she noted.

"That's not so bad, once you get used to it." Snake Man lifted up his own right arm, which was nothing more than a search snake buster. "You'll do fine."

"I hope so." Roll wriggled her fingers one last time, sadly waving them goodbye. She sighed and looked down. "Um, but what about my legs?"

"I'll have to dig up some sort of ssssubstitute." Snake Man hissed a bit with irritation. "Maybe there's a robot that was killed somewhere but its legs are still okay. I'll have to find you a helmet too. I'll do that while your upgrades are going. There will be a lot at Monstropolis, probably."

Roll was silent. She didn't like the idea of stealing from the dead, but she didn't want to say this out loud. So she just lay there. Thoughts of the past came unbidden to her mind, but she pushed them all back. If she dwelled on them too long, then she might cry. She believed Snake Man when he had threatened her. Looking for a distraction, Roll noticed a blank monitor to her right, probably a spare one. She could see her reflection in it.

"Wow, I really do look terrible."

"I told you. Now power down."

-t-

Roll's eyes opened, though it took a moment for her mind and vision to clear, and for a moment, everything seemed foggy to her.

_** "...Then I reflected that everything happen to a man precisely, precisely now. Centures of centuries and only in the present do things happen; countless men in the air, on the face of the earth and the sea...the author of an atrocious undertaking ought to imagine that he has already accomplished it, ought to imposed upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past...the future already exists..."**_

Whose voice was that? Where was it coming from? It sounded like...Crystal Man? She just wasn't sure.

"Snake Man, did you say something?"

"Yeah, I said to try and stand up. I need to make sure that those legs work."

Roll inwardly huffed at Snake Man's impatience. She was still feeling dizzy, but she didn't feel like confronting him about it. So she obediently got atop the legs she now had, realizing that she was now taller. Much taller. Roll blinked and examined herself, lifting a foot to see if she could recognise it. Much to her shock, she did.

"This...these are Bass' legs! Crystal Bot had some spare ones for him in the lab. Or these are the ones he had at first, but she had to fix them..."

"We lucked out." Snake Man said as Roll's eyes inquired. "I wanted to go to Monstropolis to find parts, but Epidemic Man was there. I managed to get out of there before he saw me, but there was no chance that I was going to be able to get anything from there."

"But, Monstropolis? What was he doing there?"

Snake Man glowered in a way that accused her of not grasping the obvious. "The army was still there, trying to fight him. It wasn't going well."

Roll stepped back with a shudder, trying to cover her mouth with her hand. But as she lifted it she saw that it was too late. It wasn't her hand anymore. It was...a something.

"That's an energy sword generator." Snake Man informed her with perfect calm. "Your brother got owned because he didn't have a close range weapon, and I'm not letting you get killed by the same thing. He's going to know it's a weapon, but there's nothing we can do about it. Now the other arm."

Roll picked up her left hand, finding that her wrist was now round like a fighter-bots; she had an internal buster. But not just any buster...it was the Mega Buster. Rock's. She knew from the instant she saw it that it had been his.

"Epidemic Man is an _idiot_." Snake Man's anger was thankfully not directed at Roll, though she did tremble at it. "Anyone with any sense would have stolen or at least destroyed the Mega Buster. But so much the better for us. It's yours now. It's a little dented, but it'll work fine."

The girl-bot was speechless. Her brother's buster. Now hers. The numbness of it all froze her thoughts, and she couldn't even interpret the feelings inside of her as she gazed at the weapon now installed on her arm. She didn't have that much time to do it anyway. In only a second, Snake Man had rammed something with a dark visor over her head, and got started tying something around her neck. Confused, Roll tried to push the helmet off so she could look at it, a difficult task now with only one arm. And Snake Man swatted her arms down anyway.

"Don't bother looking, it's Proto Man's helmet." he said impatiently. "Now hold still while I get his scarf on. You're going to at least _look_ like you know what you're doing. There. Now take the Proto shield - take it, I said! Hold it on your left arm. You'll still be able to shoot if you hold it on your left. We have to keep your sword arm free. You are so luckly none of that was damaged in the lab's collapse."

Roll swallowed. The tough armor and Mega Buster should have comforted her, but it only made her wonder if she, of all robots, had somehow learned to feel literally pain. Those heroes had given their lives to save the earth, and now they were still giving. Would it ever be over. Snake Man was starting to get annoyed at her, so Roll quickly chased away her sad thoughts.

"Okay, you had a power leak. I patched it up, and it should hold." Snake Man dropped a box in front of her. "I'm not letting you go out in that ugly dress, and this survived, so dig something out and get dressed. We want Epidemic Man to overestimate you. If he realizes that you're weak, then you're screwed no matter what. But if he thinks that you know what you're doing, he apply strategy to you when there isn't any. He'll overthink himself. Don't just stand there, open it up!"

Roll pulled off Proto Man's helmet, lovingly placing it on the automated table before she went to the box. It was one of those impact-resistant, weather proof cargo box, and this particular one was red, and the lock was a classic, bronze-ish lock in the shape of a heart, and it had "Roll" engraved on it. These were Roll's fancier clothes, though Roll doubted that any of her regular ones would have survived. Roll didn't know where the key was, but the lock was simply for decoration anyway. She snapped it off, then started going through her clothes as Snake Man went off to get some E tanks.

The trouble was, these were Roll's fancier things, some of which she hadn't worn in years. It felt odd for her to rummage through them with a buster arm. The longer sleeved ones wouldn't work at all, and none were practical. Fortunately, there was a red and white tennis outfit, and it would work. She pulled it out of the box as Snake Man returned.

"Okay, take as many of these as you can hold." he ordered. "I wish Eddie was around, but that guy got shot and we're going to have to deal. Find something?"

"Yes." Roll held up the dress.

"Eh, good thing all three of those guys could change colors in their armor. You look tacky, so hurry up and fix it."

Roll did, and the blue of the Mega Buster and the grey and black of Bass' legs turned to a red and white color scheme, and Roll would do the same to Proto Man's helmet once she put it back on. She wouldn't have changed Proto Man's scarf's color if she could: it was defiant yellow, and it would stay that way. That done, Roll glanced over at Snake Man, grasping the dress hesitantly.

"Um...Snake Man...could you, uh, turn around for a while?"

He facepalmed. "Roll, we're both robots..."

"Still...would you please?"

Roll had been raised with certain principles, and she wasn't about to compromise them. Snake Man didn't care enough to object.

"Fine!" the snake-bot stomped off to the other side of the lab. "Be modest and waste time!"

As soon as Snake Man was out of sight, a relieved Roll pulled off her tattered red dress, then she quickly pulled the tennis dress over her head, hoping Snake Man would stay away long enough. He was right, though, it was odd that she would have such privacy issues. And there wasn't even anything to see. But she didn't care. Roll hmphed and tilted up her nose, thinking that if he hadn't been a Wily-bot then he would have better morals. She pulled the scarf out through the neck of the new dress, and she gently placed her old frock with her more fancy things, considering it more valuable than any of them.

Roll wished that she had a hair tie. She ran her fingers through her hair, regretting even more the sword generator in her right arm. She stared at the ugly thing. It looked like her arm had been severed by a metal bracelet, and it took Roll a minute to realize that this circle around what was once her wrist was actually her fingers. They had been bent and manipulated, covered by glistening platinum. The inside of it was an energy cavern, something she only knew the name of because Auto had spoken of it once. It would produce a limited range of energy perfect for a temporary sword. Roll tested it, and a red beam shot out three feet from her arm, making her jump.

"Hey, Roll, are you done over there already?"

"Yeah, I'm done!"

Roll shut off the beam, grabbing her (her?) helmet and putting it on as she walked over to her last ally. She didn't like him, but at the same time, a part of her clung to his existence for comfort. He was rude, mean, and had threatened to kill her, but all the same, he was the only person - the only friend - that she had left. If he could be called a friend. Roll desperately wanted to be able to. For now she just tried to listen to all the advice Snake Man was trying to give her, hoping that she wouldn't forget it all the instant Epidemic Man showed up.

Snake Man looked at her up and down, as if trying to guess her potential. "Eh, anyone afraid of someone who looks like you has to be a wimp, but at least you look professional. How is your battle AI?"

"Uh...I don't know...I've never had it before."

The Wily-bot gagged. "Ugh...I'm depending on this girl-bot." he sighed. "Look, I know how much you hate this and don't want to, and if we had some way of upgrading my AI instead of yours, we would have done that. Just...just don't embarrass me out there, alright?"

"I'll try not to. And Snake Man..."

She paused, not sure if she could continue. He would think what she was about to say very strange. Then again, he was staring at her with some sort of expectation, so she figured that she might as well finish. The worst he would do was laugh at her.

"Snake Man..." she tried again. "Please, don't leave this lab."

The Wily-bot's eyes widened considerably as she went on. "I know that sounds weird, but I don't want anything to happen to you out there. I want someone to survive this. You'll be safe here in the lab, and I couldn't stand it if something happened to you. I want Wi-" she was about to say "Wily's scheme", but she reconsidered it and quickly reworded. "I want this scheme to be a failure. And that can only happen if a sentient robot lives. I doubt I'll make it, winning or not, but...please don't die."

The green robot stared at her, puzzled. Roll anxiously wondered if he was trying to think of some way to mock her, or if he genuinely did think it was a kind gesture. But his answer wasn't either.

"Go." he said with a perfectly unreadable face. "Don't waste any more time talking to me."

-t-

And so now Roll was standing out in the middle of Monstropolis, watching the truck in the distance burn as the ashen wind lifted the scarf around her neck. The transmission was sent, the AI checks were complete, and Roll knew how her beam sword worked. She sorely wished that she had time to practice, though Snake Man said he wouldn't have been a good fighting partner for her anyway. Not when she had to fight her destroyer.

Roll closed her eyes, shuddering.

_Epidemic Man..._

She opened her eyes. she was going to have to be very watchful. For the battle she had chosen an area of the city that was the flattest, where none of the formerly tall towers would block her way. Still, there were several buildings still standing, though blasted through with only a few cracked windows left intact. It was gloomy. Roll found herself trying to think of better days: of shopping, playing soccer with Rock, talking with Crystal Bot about having a band, flying in the Proto jet, finding out Bass' true, kind nature that day in the library...and that one last vacation with Dr. Light.

_They're all gone._ she thought, hating every last pleasant warmth in this cold world she now lived in._ What good is it to think of them? _

But Roll realized that Mega Man wouldn't want her thinking like that. She was a Light-bot, and everything Mega Man had done with his life and with the Light legacy told her why it was good to think of those days: because it reminded her what she was fighting for. And what she was fighting for was all of those moments, that they would one day happen again. That one day people would be able to smile again, to work for science and for peace and just for straight out fun again. Things would be like that again, for humans if not for herself, Roll promised herself. She smiled as she thought of Snake Man. She hoped he would let her be his friend.

The gloom reasserted itself, nonetheless lightened from Roll's cheery thoughts. But the gloom did not go away, and Roll could sense it telling her that time was decreasing. Her doom was as inevitable as the next sunrise, and to think of a future of being anyone's friend was pointless.

Roll shrugged it off. She was as prepared as she was going to get, and now she wanted to say goodbye. She looked down at "her" legs, feeling a bit awkward using them. She reached down and touched the thigh gently.

"Thank you, Forte." Somehow his Japanese name seemed more appropriate for the moment. "Thank you so much for letting me use your legs. I feel a lot better knowing that the armor will be strong. I never knew you that well, but I like to think that I knew enough to see how kind and just you are. You're a good robot, Forte. Don't let anyone tell you any different."

Next, she reached up to the scarf around her neck, the helmet on her head, and she used her energy sword generator to tap the shield on her left arm. "Thank you also, Blues. I wish we could have spent more time together. I wish a lot of things, but...thank you for your armor and your scarf. I feel more confident with you protecting me."

Finally, Roll faced the Mega Buster, and that was when her heart struggled to be calm. "Rock...Rockman...you were the best brother a sister could have! I miss you and your silliness, and...I love you. Thank you for inspiring me to keep going, even when I don't want to! Even when the only thing I want most in the world is to run and hide! Thank you for being here, right now...when I need you the most."

And she smiled, almost wanting to laugh. Everyone was there with her. The world's three smartest and strongest robots were all helping her, and as long as she fought for justice and peace, she knew she would win.

"Thank you, everyone!"

Roll had to focus now. Snake Man had told her to be as focused and intimidating as she could be by being mysterious and silent. She could manage that, she hoped. So she straightened, standing dramatically in the ruin, her red and white armor defying the damp grey atmosphere simply by being bright.

It didn't take much longer. After a minute or two, Epidemic Man appeared, flying in the distance. At first he didn't seem to notice her, but after a moment she could see his glance and subsequent terrible smile told her that everything had now come to its terrible, grim point. Roll banished all emotions from her thoughts, trying to hold onto what Snake Man had told her as the evil teal and blue robot landed in front of her.

_Be mysterious...be mysterious..._

All of this nearly threw itself out of her head as Roll heard his terrible voice again. "Hello there. Just who might you be?"

"Your worst nightmare."

Roll regretted this the instant she said it, and it produced a very bad reaction in Epidemic Man. He laughed.

"Oh really? If I was not a robot and actually had nightmares, I'm _certain_ I would be afraid of you, honey." the Cain-bot mocked. "But I was rather enquiring about your name."

The girl-bot inwardly cringed. She hadn't thought of a name. Why hadn't Snake Man told her to think of one?

"My name is Proto Bot."

Roll was getting better at acting. Though she thought the name was the silliest thing she had done yet, her face showed none of this emotion, as cold as stone. Thinking of Proto Man's self-control helped a lot. Sadly, Epidemic Man too seemed to think the name was silly, though he did also look like he was taking her seriously. Or else she was just bad at telling people.

"'Proto...Bot'...eh, not that catchy, I must say." he grinned sideways. "And yet you're here now in defiance of me."

"My creator's specialty is not in names, but in fighter-bots."

Roll was very surprised when this got a reaction out of Epidemic Man. He was obviously trying to hide it, but the very notion of her having a creator - a creator referred to in present tense, no less - seemed to disturb him greatly. Roll had to wonder what she had done. But if there was something disturbing about it, far be it from her to not use it to her advantage.

"Ah..." he asked. "What is your creator's name, then? Maybe I'll recognise his expertise."

"His name is Crys..." Roll paused. She couldn't say she was built by a robot. That would only make her look weak. "Chris Tillman."

"Very well. Then this Chris-Chris Tillman shall be next on my list of killings," Epidemic Man said haughtily, staring down over his nose at Roll. "After I kill Mega Man X."

"Who?"

Of course "Proto Bot" created by "Chris Tillman" would not know who Mega Man X was, but Roll herself felt a wave of dread as she heard Epidemic Man speak the name. An even greater dread hit her like a wall when Epidemic Man threw something on the ground between them, and Roll picked it up, knowing she would regret it. For a moment, she couldn't tell what it was, but as she slowly turned it around and over, she knew what it was. It was Mega Man's severed head, still cracked from the plasma sword blow, and yet most of the inner workings of the head, exposed through the cracked metaloid skin.

"For someone made of Light-parts tacked together," Epidemic Man's grin was growing more evil, though Roll wasn't looking at him. "You sure don't know anything about them. They have this super robot named Mega Man X, and he's supposed to be the next generation hero of the planet. I've been looking for him, you see, and despite all of those cute little anti-virus programs in his head, I prevailed! Ha, I only give viruses, not accept them! Now I know exactly where to find him, and what codes are best to make my victory that much easier. They even made it so Mega Man X is asleep for decades! I can take as much time as I like! Your champion has failed you! Ha, you yourself remain the only thing delaying me."

Trying her hardest to stay in character, Roll numbly pretended that she didn't care, dropping Rock's tattered head aside and staring straight into the eyes of her enemy. Any moment she felt like she might burst into tears...she needed help...and poor Snake Man, she had told him he would be safe and to stay in the lab, but he would die because of it. She could feel her lip trembling...

**"Don't you dare cry! I'll kill you if you cry!"**

Remembering Snake Man's words turned her grief into hate. At first it was hatred for Snake Man, for daring to say such a thing to a poor girl. But Snake Man wasn't the one who deserved her hatred. In fact, she was suddenly glad he had said that to her. All of that rage found a deserving victim in Epidemic Man, worthy of her wrath, and all the preparations that had been made for this very moment. It was then that Roll learned that there was a time to hate; hatred, while dangerous, had its place in life. And this very place, which had seen so much brokenness, death, and devastation, was the right place for hate. It cooled away all the mourning that Roll had wanted to much to indulge, leaving nothing but the seethingly enraged Proto Bot, just waiting to unleash her power. She was afraid for her life; afraid she was going to fail. But she was not afraid that she was going to run away. And that was what mattered.

This made Epidemic Man...well, Roll wasn't sure. It was almost as if he liked it, but wasn't sure. Roll didn't care anymore. She was now X's last defense, and he was going to live. She swore it. She also swore that Epidemic Man was going to die.

"Well, come on, then."

And the battle ensued. Blocking off the first two torpedoes with the Proto shield, Roll immediately dove in with her energy sword and started the close range battle. Epidemic Man seemed enthralled by this, reveling in the viciousness of her attacks. If Roll had been paying attention to her emotions (she was rather busy) then she would have been surprised at her own brutality and fearlessness. It didn't even phase her when Epidemic Man snatched the Proto shield out of her hands and flung it into the distance. She just fought all the harder.

But that didn't mean she was skilled. The battle AI was doing as good a job as it could, but that alone wouldn't work too well without experience. Epidemic Man quickly kicked her in the gut, and she flew back several feet. She could barely get back up before several torpedoes were headed her way, and she froze. How was she going to dodge them? Without even knowing how, Roll found herself out of the way, and the two missles crashed harmlessly into the concrete remnants of some ruined wall.

_That's right! Bass could always dash!_

Delightedly she tried it again, succeeding. Roll ran to Epidemic Man, acting as if she would charge at him, but at the last minute she just turned away, letting her sword run through his side. It was a perfect hit, and he swore terribly as she passed him by. Roll would have laughed if she could, but that was when Epidemic Man stopped playing nice. He roared, flying upwards into the air and sending out an EMP wave.

And it did...nothing.

Stunned, Roll realized that Proto Man's helmet had activated. Not only had it blocked the data-erasing wave, but it was now scanning Epidemic Man. And then everything made perfect sense. Not just the fight itself, but the entire robot apocalypse, and why Dr. Wily would have upgraded robots not his own and let them be in charge of destroying the world: Epidemic Man was overclocked. Not just a little, but a lot. He was filled with more power devices and battle AI then one simple body would allow. And it was slowly killing him. Fighting or other activities helped, but Epidemic Man had been overextending himself for a long time. His power core was overloaded, and the proper shot would end him.

That didn't diminish anything from Epidemic Man's plain skill, and Roll had spent too long dwelling on this information. He dove after her, using his plasma sword to knock away her energy sword so that he could tackle her, punching her with his own fists. Then his sword reappeared, and he drove it down violently.

With a mighty crash, a green missile smacked straight into Epidemic Man, and he was left at the mercy of Snake Man and two search snakes, which had found places on Epidemic Man to latch their fangs. Shocked, Roll ran forward to help him out, but Snake Man hadn't lied earlier: he was a terrible fighter. With a vicious snarl, Epidemic Man ran his claw over Snake Man's face, and was able to stand up again, his hand grasping the offensive Wily-bot by the neck.

"Fool! You should have fled while you had the chance!"

Epidemic Man promptly stabbed Snake Man through the gut and flung him aside, removing first one search snake from his antennae, and the other from his leg. Both ended up stomped under his feet. But that was a mistake.

"Snake Man, no!" Roll cried out.

"What? That voice...you can't be - "

Roll had had the time to charge the Mega Buster, and she let loose an electrical wallop that was unmatched in any robot since Mega Man. It smacked into Epidemic Man, who had left himself open far too long. His body sparked and sputtered as he struggled to get up, and his plasma sword refused to engage. The power was overwhelming him, and his coolant system couldn't work hard enough. He was overheating. Proto Bot was coming closer...

"You?" he spat as he spoke. "I was defeated by...Rr...Rrrrr..."

"That's right." She stood over him, closer to tears than he realized. "Know this: as long as evil exists, there will always be a Light-bot to stop it. ALWAYS."

She blasted him again with the Mega Buster. She was tempted to just let him melt and die slowly, but that really wasn't in her nature. That and she didn't want him to have the chance to do anything more than he already had. It wasn't about revenge: it was practicality. She stabbed him through the head. No one was going to get the codes to X's chamber.

Once his head was removed from his body and Roll was absolutely certain he was dead, she disengaged her energy sword and went to find Snake Man. The claw to his face had destroyed his eyes, so he was lying there, weakened and glitching. Roll kneeled by his side, and he heard her movement.

"Did we get him?"

"Yes...yes we did."

"That's good...that's real good..."

His voice was faint, fading away as he did as well. Full of tears, Roll grabbed him and tried to hold him up.

"Please don't die, Snake Man!" she wept. "Please don't! I know you don't want me to cry but I can't help it! Please don't die...please don't..."

Snake Man smiled a little, and for a moment, it looked like he was trying to say something. But mortal damage had been done to his power core, and whatever it was, it was left unsaid. Roll laid him down, glitching.

She looked up at everything, then stared at the sky. There had been some satellites working not too long ago. Epidemic Man had said so himself. Would they have seen what had happened? She hoped so. Sniffing, Roll stood up. What was there left to do? She had no one left to save. No family to return home to. Maybe she could find Kalinka again. She had to know that Kalinka was alright. If she wasn't then -

"Oh!"

An alarm went off in her head. It was a warning. The power leak that Snake Man had patched up before had come undone at some point during the fight, and now it was worse than before. It was going faster, and the E tanks in her armor would only last her half a day, if she was lucky. She could feel her innards mixing with other innards that were not the right parts. A sudden drainage of oil and coolant fluid made its way down her neck, seeping through her port drive. She was not going to last long like this, and there was no one in the world left that could possibly repair her. The scientists...Wily had done his evil job well.

_I...I'll never get to see Kalinka's baby...I hope it will be cute..._

These and other depressing thoughts filled her mind and weighed her down. She couldn't bear to look at her brother's head again, and what did it matter anyway? That was not her brother; her brother was gone forever. So Roll just went over to Snake Man, and she laid herself down nearby, looking at his slashed but somehow peaceful face.

"I wish..." she whispered. "I wish there was a heaven for robots. You could come too. Rock would love to have you with us..."

It was so weird to her. It felt like everything running through her mind was nonsense. She recalled how Bass had said the junkyard was like purgatory, and they it was possible to get recycled there. This was a peaceful thought. She hoped that she could be made into a car. Then she could travel. Unless she was owned by a sedentary person. That would be terrible.

"I'm so silly, aren't I?" Roll continued speaking to Snake Man, despite the fact he couldn't hear her and he certainly didn't know what she was thinking. "Thank you, Snake Man. I appreciate you helping me. You...you're a good robot."

There was no answer, and after a moment, she reluctantly stopped expecting one. It was then she noticed that all of this silliness had been a distraction from her own death. She had to face it now, even more certain than before the fight. But she had won. That made it at least a little less painful. Roll expected that at any second she would start bawling her eyes out, glitching away the last remnants of her power core.

That time never came. She was filled with a calmness that couldn't be outdone. She realized that she was completely diffident about it: she didn't care that she was going to die. What good was it for her to live? Her brothers were gone, Auto was dead, Crystal Bot and Bass were irretrievable, and the world was a shambling mess of what it had been before. There was only a little sadness for X, as she wouldn't be there for him, to meet him once he woke. That was the only pain, and it wasn't a big one. She knew he would be fine, and that he would protect the earth. She trusted...well, she wasn't sure what she trusted. All she knew was that she was tired, and she didn't want to think anymore. That took too much effort. And now that she had no one left, death was by no means bitter. It was just the end.

"I did good...didn't I, Rock?"

Roll whispered these words, then nothing more. It was all over, and there was no sense in just letting her power drain to empty, feeling death as it came. She shut down.

-t-

The reporter grasped the microphone, sending out a double signal that could reach both radios and TVs. She hoped that there were people still alive and able to listen.

"This is Cindy Caldwell, reporting in for Monstropolis Times. I'm here in downtown Monstropolis. Once a beautiful city and tourist attraction, it is now the site of this war's most devastating battles. But that war has ended today, thanks to a mysterious new robot called Proto Bot. She defeated the last Cain robot, Epidemic Man, but she and the last Wily robot, Snake Man, were both lost in the process. While searches are still going on, there are now believed to be no sentient robots remaining in the world today. With the world's greatest robotics scientists dead, it looks like the dream of Dr. Thomas Light, the dream that became a nightmare, is now effectively over.

"The U.S. army is now coordinating the search and rescue of any humans stranded or lost in the country, and what mechaniloids we have left will be aiding in the search. Also, any human settlements that may be cut off from the rest of the world, please send a message through the frequency 23.9, so that the army can take your names and reassure your loved ones that you are still alive. That's frequency 23.9.

"Good luck, and may God save us all."

Cindy shut down her transmitter, wishing that she didn't sound like a reporter every time she spoke. This was a time of emergency, and here she was sounding like she was reporting the evening news. She looked at the now decrepit city and shuddered. What had humanity done to itself this time?

.

.

THE END

Thank you for reading.

\\\\\\

Author's notes:

- I hereby dedicate this chapter to Mungo Jerry because I gratuitously killed off all the robots. Congrats. So, it's over you guys. Did you guys have any expectations for how this story was going to end? I've had it in my head since Okkusenman, so no, none of y'all influenced it any. :P Well, lol, you guys did kinda kick me in the pants and help me really focus for this chapter. I'm really glad that you feel that this is a place where you can call me out when I'm bogus. It actually didn't take me long to write this, but I definitely did do a better job than last chapter. I'm really happy with it.

- Crotalus is the latin word for "rattlesnake". Snake Man says it up there as a substitute for "for the love of Pete". Lol, it's a favorite word of mine.

- The quotes up there are three from Dr. Yu Sun, from the story The Garden of Forking Paths. The story itself was weird as crap, but I love those quotes. They're fun things to think about. Yup, Crystal Man left them in the program for them to pop up when Roll used his upgrades.

- The depressing songs for this chapter are going to be two, and yeah, I don't think this gimmick worked as well as character profiles, but oh well. Did you at least like some of the songs I put up? The first for this chapter is the most epic Snake Man remix ever. Normally I don't even like it when people remix them, because usually said mixes stink, but this one is really worth listening to. www. youtube. com /watch?v=eH7NXFQ0FIw Now this next one is the one I've had in mind for this scene all along, because it just makes me think of Roll fighting. She's afraid, but she knows there are worse consequences if she doesn't. It's the UNKLE remix of F.E.A.R. www. youtube. com /watch?v=-UBFQ3EHHtw

======Snake Man

**"You can't hide from me!"**

Good point: Green robot

Bad point: Elusive idea

Like: Toad Man

Dislike: Slug

Snake Man. Ah, Snake Man! One of my favorite robot masters from as a kid. I remember watching my brother play his level - I stank and always just watched him play. But Snake Man is one of the most popular robot masters ever. He's so cool! I liked the Mega Man cartoon episode where he and Mega Man switched bodies. That one was a lot of fun. His like and dislike are based on the Japanese rock-paper-scissors, which is instead snake-slug-toad. And just like paper somehow magically beats rock, slug mysteriously beats snake. I wish they had done something different with his dislike.

Anyway, in my head Snake Man does whatever he wants to do. He is neither very social or particularly shy, but he's not always fond of being around people. He's obesessed with nature, and he loves plants. He also loves animals, especially the ones that most people think are weird, bad, or otherwise not interesting. Snake Man especially loves insects. He's very passionate about it, and as few people share his interest to the extent that he does, this does prevent him from being as close to others as he could be. He varies between being happy to be alone and wishing that other people would recognise him.

Snake Man has lots of ninja skills, and if it weren't for Shadow Man or Bass, he'd be the most stealthy Wily-bot of all. However, his stealth usually pertains to escape rather than slight-of-hand, and if confronted he prefers a direct fight. Unfortunately, he's not a great fighter, as any of us who have seen the game know. Hence the escape skills.

Also, he was very loyal to Wily. Team 3 was created by both Wily and Light, but he believes that it's Dr. Light's fault that he is so weak: if he had been built purely for combat, he would have been much stronger. He never once questioned Wily's orders over the years, and while he inwardly knows Wily's cruelty, he had always assumed that everything Wily did was for the betterment of his robots. Only when the apocalypse started did Snake Man have to question this belief, and the realization that Wily only cared about himself was the reason why Snake Man was able to choose to ally with Roll. That and he hates Dr. Cain's robots.

As much as I think it's sort of lame for Snake Man to hiss, I added it to his anger anyway because that's something Wily would do. He wouldn't skip anything simply because it was cheesy. That's why he's our favorite mad scientist. Or maybe not so much after reading this story, anyway.


	16. Bonus Features

There was a stage, and on it were four red, comfy chairs. There was also a microphone and a podium in the center, where a dark blonde stood adjusting her glasses and hoping nobody noticed the rather uncomely size of her nose. She cleared her throat, and put on a big smile.

"Hi everyone! Welcome to the Bonus Features show!" she exclaimed. "I'm GrimMoody, the author of the Okkusenman trilogy, and I'll be bringing you deleted scenes, and also questions for our character guests! Come on out, everyone!"

GrimMoody peers into the backstage area, hoping someone will come out. She starts to get impatient, but then she realizes something.

"Oh wait! I killed them all! Hee hee, silly me! I forgot. Oh well, we'll just have to bring somebody back from the dead so that they can be on the show! I'll bring back the classiest, funniest character, one of my very favorites: Top Man!"

With a flash of sparks and smoke, the brilliantly orange robot appeared, and he spun in a graceful circle until he completed it with a clever bow.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" Top Man straightened as he spoke. "Or morning, midnight, or afternoon, whenever you might be reading this. I am Top Man, the most magnificent dancer of all the Wily numbers!"

GrimMoody stared and blinked at him for a moment. "Wily really regretted building you, didn't he?"

"You don't have to rub it in!" Top Man huffed and sat down. "There are more important things in the world than fighting, you know. What is life without art?"

"I'll give you that one there, Toppy." Grimm conceded. "Well, let's get you introduced. Tell us a little about yourself."

"Alright!" he smiled at the camera. "I am a member of elite Team 3, DWRN-021. My interests include Shakespeare, Irish and Norse lore, theatre productions, and experimental, artistic plant growing. Few people know this, but I was actually designed to go to other planets and discover resources for the robot Gamma."

"Wait," Grimm wrinkled her brow. "You're supposed to go to other planets? How? A lot of planets are rocky, and going around on wheels can't help then. The rest of the planets are gaseous, so you'd need like a rocketpack or rocket shoes or something to move around. Skates? And why don't you have any sort of metal detectors or underground sensors? You'd need that if you're tracking down metals and such."

Top Man glared at her, mad at her for interrupting. "That's what my wikia page says, alright?"

"Didn't it used to say that you were made to entertain children?"

"I don't know..."

"Heh, well, I guess it fits with you being so random. Look at your level! I mean, usually the robot masters have baddies that match the nature of the master, but come on, flying screws and giant cats that throw yarn? And what's with all those plants in the walls?"

"I get enough jokes about 'weed', thank you oh so very much." Top Man was bemused. "Now are you going to let me speak or not?"

"Sorry, sorry! Hey, tell us about your team. What are they like?"

The orange robot relaxed a bit, but sighed. "Oh, they...well they weren't much of a team, most of the time. You see, our leader was to be Shadow Man, but he had no interest at all in leadership. He just didn't care. It started a very bad precedent. Snake Man decided that he was going to do whatever he wanted as well, especially after Gemini Man tried to take control. Hah, that guy is better at controlling his clones, but we have minds of our own! Thankfully Gemini Man gave up on it. The rest of us tried to be more united, but it never worked. Magnet Man should have been our leader from the beginning, but unfortunately he never really knew what he was doing. Needle Man was so pushy, and Hard Man never thought I was tough enough. In the end, only Spark Man and I cared at all about having a united team, though he scorned me, and that was the end of that. We only worked together after that to prove our strength to the other teams."

GrimMoody went over and sat in another chair, putting her legs up over the armrest as she stretched out. "Wow. So you were like the whipping boy until the next team was built?"

"Quite. It was frequently said that I should have been on Team 5. However, things did look up once Toad Man was made." Here Top Man managed a laugh, but not a mocking one. "Oh, the poor thing. I mean, I knew Dr. Cossack wasn't the genius Dr. Wily was, but come _on_. All you have to do is shoot him to make him stop attacking? Please."

"Okay, so did Team 5 make things even better for you?"

GrimMoody pointed her finger at him, and instantly a small table appeared with a lovely teacup and saucer and a pitcher of fresh E tank tea. Top Man delightedly reached for it, mixing two weapons energy pellets in.

"Good heavens, not at all." Top Man quite happily told the story of his unhappiest years once he had a sip of the tea. "Ah, quite good, thank you. No, it's sad, actually. I had so wished to be thought of for my achievement of the spinning greenhouse, but once they came along, I was constantly grouped with them, and none of my own team defended me. Oh, it was quite horrible. Gyro Man was the worst, and for a long time he believed that our positions should have been switched. However, I got them all to stop."

"How'd you do that?"

"Simple, I started making my own energy pellets." Top Man winked. "They are organically based, you know, and it turns out that a spinning greenhouse is just the thing to provide adequate source materials. Why, they should have expected it of me, and even Dr. Wily applauded my efforts. That shut everyone right up, and Shadow Man said that I deserved my spot on Team 3 for my smarts. Vindication is sweet!"

"Well, we've been chatting it up for a bit." GrimMoody stretched and yawned, sitting up in the chair. "Mm...okay. It's time for a deleted scene! Auto, put it on up!"

GrimMoody stretched back out on the chair's armrests, looking up at the projector screen at the back of the stage. She didn't notice at first that Top Man was trying to get her attention.

"Oh, yeah dude?"

"I'm afraid that you killed Auto off too, dear."

"What? This means I have to get out of my chair, doesn't it?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Dang it..."

GrimMoody mumbled and grumbled all the way back to the projector. Finally the lights cut dim, and the deleted scene began to play.

**===chapter 3**

**"Very well." Wave Man's gargly voice was more solemn than ever. "There is little to tell. He was not on the space station when it happened. Gravity Man had gone down to Monstropolis to retrieve some supplies, and he was being monitored the entire time by Star Man. He met no one unusual, and accessed only normal computers that most robots would use on a daily basis. And in an instant there was nothing. We immediately lost all contact with Gravity Man, and that was when we signalled Auto to come and find him."**

**Crystal, though she tried not to, audibly whimpered as she buried her face in Jewel Man. Mega bit his lip, sorry for her. **

**"Well," he went on. "I spoke to some witnesses once Auto contacted me, and from what they said he was accessing an ATM, and while he was still logged in he just cut off without warning and collapsed. The ATM is still under investigation, but so far they haven't found anything suspicious about it. It even has Global Anti-virus installed."**

**"Gravity Man had my latest anti-virus programming..." Crystal Bot protested. "**

**=====Chapter 4**

**Roll liked the Polovstiansky's house. It was surprisingly normal for a robotics scientist's home, other than being grandiose. Having grown up in a home without a mother, Kalinka had rarely ever had the chance to live in a place she could decorate herself, and a more feminine, homey way. Dr. Cossack's lab came straight from old sci fi movies, but this place could have been featured in a housing magazine. Roll happily went over to the kitchen, with its large, marble counters and all the latest appliances.**

**On the way there, Roll happened to glance sideways and almost jumped out of her plasticine alloy skin. No matter how many times Roll saw Skull Man standing there in the hall, she never got used to it. He was still Kalinka's bodyguard, which Dr. Cossack had insisted go with her when she married. The girl-bot shuddered, but calming herself down a bit, she managed to speak to him.**

**"Hello, Skull Man. Detect anything unusual today?"**

**"No."**

**Roll politely waited to see if he would say anything more, but even after only a few days of knowing him, Roll knew that Skull Man's conversation skills were lacking and just went on by to the kitchen. Roll decided to fix some fresh pasta salad. It wasn't long before Kalinka joined her, but the human was wrapped up in a cell phone conversation**

**- chapter 4 **

**"That...that must have been the data kill device in his head, just like Plant Man and Aqua Man and the others..." Mega Man said. "How horrible that Dr. Cain is forcing all of the robots to die just so that we won't know what's going on."**

**"I have Hard Man's CPU." Skull Man offered the small device to Mega Man. "It might work." **

**"Thanks." the blue bomber took it somewhat cheerfully. **

**"Okay," Kalinka said as she began to use what little knowledge she had of robotics to check and see how badly damaged Gyro Man was. "So it is Dr. Cain? How do you know this?"**

**"It's sort of a long story, but he's the one responsible for the death of Dr. Imahara, Splash Woman, and Gravity Man. From what we've seen here his robots appear to be in charge." Mega Man answered. "I think he reprogrammed the remaining robot-masters to follow him. He always was a good programmer. Roll? Are you alright?"**

**"I...I'm fine." she stammered. "I've never been that close to being attacked before..."**

**"It wasn't that bad." Kalinka said. "But Alyosha...they might go after him next!"**

**"Pharoah Man is on his way with a transport, but I'm not going to leave you until he gets here." Mega Man assured her. "We don't know how many robot masters are still out there, and if they want to capture you that badly, they'll try again. Don't worry, the lab he works at will have more security measures than your house. Gyro Man, you'd probably better teleport back to my lab."**

**"Fine." Gyro Man gave his short, ill tempered reply as he pulled out the round teleportation device Crystal Bot had given him.**

**"As handy as those things are..." Mega Man said. "Are they legal?"**

**Gyro Man managed a chortle. "Well, there's no direct law against them. Don't complain. They did help us get here quick enough."**

**"Then use them to find Alyosha!" Kalinka was starting to get angry. "I will be fine! Skull Man is here!"**

**"We can't take that risk." Mega Man shook his head. **

**"Then get Bass! He still belongs to my father so he needs to get over here and help my husband!"**

**Mega Man hesitated, but in the end decided to contact Bass anyway. If he was lucky, then Tim Reyes was done with the investigation. Knowing that his own personal communicator was well out of range, Mega Man went to the wall. While the monitor was gone, thankfully the computer was still operational enough to send out a stronger signal. **

**Roll wandered away from the group. **

GrimMoody went back on stage and sat back down. "Okay, so these I showed all at once, because they're basically lamer versions of what I had up there already. For the first one, there was more plot involved. Having 'Global Anti-virus' exist was just pointless, as was the whole ATM scene. All the reader basically needs to know is that they lost contact with Gravity Man, and they found him dead later. Adding frivolous details only makes your work that much more annoying to read, because the reader will assume it has significance, but in the end it doesn't. As for the other two, they were just first drafts that needed more emotional impacts. While it was hard to write better versions of them, once I got it, the end results were a lot more fun.

"Oh, hey, Top Man." GrimMoody sat up. "How would you like to be the host for a bit?"

"So you would like me to ask you questions?"

"Yeah. People might what to know what inspires my work."

"Isn't that a bit self serving?" Top Man reluctantly put down his tea, raising an eyebrow. "How do you know people want to hear you talk about yourself?"

"Just ask the dang questions on the notepad." GrimMoody pointed her finger again, and a notepad reappeared in his hand. She then leaned back into her chair, happily relaxing with her eyes half-closed.

Top Man shrugged, biting his lip slightly. "Very well then, *cough*HACK*cough*."

The author opened her eyes. "Wow, you don't sound good, Top Man. Are you okay?"

"I assure you, I am just fine, GrimMoody *cough*isaHACK*cough*. Oh, excuse me! Just a bit of throat glitching, you know. Happens from time to time. Now onto the questions!" Top Man casually flipped open the notepad and began to read from it. "Alright, where did your inspiration for this story come from?"

"That's a good question!" The author chuckled. "I wish I knew. I was just watching a bunch of Mega Man perfect runs on the internet, and it just brought me back. That and some Bass AMVs. I dunno...the X series was such a departure from classic that it kinda freaked me out. I watched let's plays of all the X series games, and well, there had to be a bridge between the two. The spirit of classic is just so darn different. Heck, if Inafune had his way, the Zero series would have been even worse than they were, because it would have been the real X behind everything going on, rather than Copy X. Heck, someone should write a fiction about it. I would, but I don't like X or Zero series."

Getting a little too absorbed in the part, Top Man casually rose to his feet and skated over to the podium, standing and asking the next question very much like a TV show host would. "Ah, and which robot masters would you say are your favorites?"

"Ha, you dork. I bet you're expecting me to say you, right?"

Top Man skated around the stage, twirling and doing a graceful figure eight around the two chairs on his side of the stage. "Why, I hardly think an insightful artist such as yourself would not recognise my remarkable talent."

"Pssht. Flatterer." GrimMoody waved him off and turned to the camera. "Well, my first favorite is Crystal Man, because I loved his theme music as a kid. And he's shiny. Second favorite is Bass, which is surprising because I never played any of the games he was in as a kid. He's just so darn fun to write! I identify with his struggle for significance. After that, I'm not really sure what the order is for the rest I like: Snake Man (whose theme is quintessential Mega Man), Fire Man (my grandpa's tv we played MM1 on made his theme glitch like awesome), and Dust Man (he's sad, his theme rocks, and he was designed by the same guy as Crystal Man), and Top Man. Top Man might be easy to beat and his level makes no sense, but heck, I like the level making no sense. And he has a pwn theme. And I love making Mega Man dance with the top spin. It's cute!"

Top Man happily spun around, skating over to GrimMoody and kissing her hand. "Why thank you, my lady! I shall now demonstrate my new triple axel double spin with a flip! I have just perfected it for your viewing pleasure!"

As he began to spin and skate, GrimMoody clicked her lips. She didn't know any skating or dancing terminology, so it would be vain to attempt to describe the magnificent technique of a skilled person like Top Man. That and despite the presense of a camera, this is still a written fiction. He could do whatever stunts he wanted, but since no one could see them, oh well. GrimMoody stepped down off the stage.

"Eh, good time for another deleted scene...bah, that scene is like the others...ah, this one'll work..."

**===chapter 5**

**So the lone, red robot walked through the side area of the Monstropolis East Harrison Robotics Factory, dodging the workers and security guards. This wasn't a difficult task for him. Hiding from humans was like breathing to him, and he had to admit a strange thrill to be avoiding the glances and the questions of the humans. But today his mood kept him from enjoying it. He had heard about Gravity Man, as well as Dr. Inafune. While he didn't know all of the details about the attack on Kalinka's home, he knew that it had happened. And that made him ill. He promised himself to check on her once his work here was done. He had been watching the place for days, and he knew that something had to hit the fan soon. **

**This was Monstropolis' main robotics factory. Though on any given day it produced mostly mechaniloids, specialized scientists often came in to develop the more intelligent robot masters that went on the market. Though these were growing increasingly popular, the low number of scientists able to create them kept the sentient robot population likewise low. Still, this place was the main producer of robots in America, and if what Proto Man had learned was correct, this place would be a prime target for the new activity of the remaining Wily-bots.**

**Proto Man's smile was wry. Wily-bots were hardly smart enough to be subtle. As the screams started, Proto Man contacted the police. He had already informed them**

**Now that Bass was finally in Moscow, he realized that he wasn't sure where Alyosha worked. He had decided to go and make sure Dr. Cossack's son-in-law was safe, as he had heard that Kalinka was already on the way to her father's heavily guarded laboratory. Bass had called Dr. Cossack paranoid for his security measures before, but this time he was grateful for every single mechaniloid between the lab and the Wily-bots.**

"Okay, so the first part is actually the same factory that I later turned into Miyamoto Mechanics," GrimMoody said as she went back on the stage. "It started off being in America, but I really meant the scene to just be a time to learn more about Proto Man and then transition on to him going to help Kalinka. One, it would make more sense if he were closer to Russia, and two, the scene I was describing started turning into something that was going to require more attention than I wanted to give it. Hence, this became Japan, and the Japanese anti-robot force cleaned up the bulk of the mess. The last part with Bass was just him going to find Alyosha, but his sudden appearance in the way I rewrote it was just more interesting. That, and I don't think Bass would criticize Cossack for being too secure. It just seems out of character - what are you doing, Top Man?"

"What am I doing?" he repeated in a shrill, hasty voice as he stood there, in the way of GrimMoody reaching her nice comfy chair. "Why, I am _protesting_ this rude, and unfair action! Here I am trying to grace you with my most magnificent dance yet, and you cut me off with a deleted scene!"

"Oh, speaking of which, I have a really good one!" GrimMoody hastily turned the the camera. "You guys want to see it don't you? Yes? Well then, I better put it up!"

"How DARE you - "

**====chapter 6**

**Proto Man was almost at the lab, and inwardly thanked Auto again for building his jet. It had been a very useful gift, especially for someone who traveled as much as Blues did. However, the ship itself had no weapons, and Proto Man was reluctant to add any. He didn't want to attract too much attention to himself, for one, and also the ethics of it bothered him. Though most people doubted that the mysterious red robot meant anyone any harm, he still didn't want to give anyone too much reason to be concerned. **

**He noticed that he was in teleportation range, and Proto Man switched the jet to hover mode and slowly lowered it to the ground. It was the summer season in Russia, and for once the mountainous plains were clear of snow and ice. Proto Man was able to land without any trouble at all. The front of the jet lifted, and the robot jumped down to the ground, only to find himself face to face with a red and yellow Cossack-bot, who looked like he had seen better days.**

**"Blues!" Ring Man exclaimed as he limped closer to the Light-bot, his torn right leg screeching all the way. "What a coincidence! I can't believe I found you!"**

**Proto Man couldn't believe it either. His lips narrowed a bit as he silently let the robot continue. **

**"It's so horrible, poor Alyosha!" Ring Man said. "Something happened to Bass. I'm not sure what it was, but I think he got a virus or something! He attacked Kalinka's husband! I tried to stop him, but I just can't! I'm not strong enough! Please, Proto Man, you've got to defeat Bass! I don't even know if Alyosha is still alive!"**

**Proto Man was stunned for a moment, and his lip lifted quizzically. **

**"Please, Blues, you've got to hurry! There's not much time!"**

**Considering for a moment, the wanderer gave in. "Alright. I'll put a stop to this. You go back to Dr. Cossack's."**

**But before he went anywhere, Proto Man shut the jet and pushed some buttons on the side. The jet teleported, going upwards in a **_**zip**_** of red light. **

**"Do you know Bass' coordinates?"**

**Ring Man nodded eagerly and sent a transmission. "There you are! Thank you so much!"**

**"Anything for Kalinka."**

**And then Blues disappeared, becoming his own red streak as he teleported out of sight. Once Proto Man was gone, Ring Man straightened and dusted himself off. His eyes gleefully narrowed as he stared at the point in the sky where the teleportation remnant had gone out of sight. **

**"Proud of yourself, no?" **

**"Give me at least a little credit, Epic Man. I did get rid of him." Ring Man neared the spiky Cain-bot as normally as he ever did, showing his limp to be a fake. "Who do you think will win, Bass or Proto Man?"**

**"I think **_**I**_** will win, in the end." Epic Man answered smoothly. "Now get back to your creator's place and destroy it. **_**And**_** him. Go."**

**"Aren't you coming?"**

**"No. I've got a little surprise of my own to work on. Soon the little blue guy and his friends will know the true meaning of our master's work."**

**Epic Man was in a good mood as he watched Ring Man teleport out. This sort of havoc was always something that he wanted to wreck. All of his siblings were glad to be a part of it as well, and it left the group feeling more united than ever. **

_**All those foolish old schemes were for nothing.**_** Epic Man lifted a fist into the air as if rebelling against reality. **_**This...now this is what real devastation means!**_

"Okay, well, I didn't include this scene for a few reasons, though I really like it." GrimMoody steadily ignored the glaring robot behind her. "I like how it shows Epidemic Man interacting with a Wily-bot, and sadly, I wish I had included more of these scenes. But really, this story was about the good guys. Anyway, for this scene, adding the whole 'Bass could be a bad guy' thing was just weird and distracted too much from what I wanted to go on. It was better to just focus on the actual battle against Dr. Cossack. And besides, how did Ring Man know where Proto Man was going to land? Why did PM land? Where did he teleport his ship? It just added to many loose ends that had to be dealt with."

"Like the one where you interrupted the most beautiful skating routine ever made?"

Thinking quickly, GrimMoody made a face before turning around. "Er, you see, I can't have you dance in the middle of the show. We need to get the other things out of the way, so that we can best enjoy your talent. For the sake of flow, of course. You know how it is with flow, right?"

"Flow?" Top Man tapped a finger lightly against his chin. "Ah, but of course! Forgive me, I do get ahead of myself sometimes!"

Top Man settled down back into his chair, and GrimMoody went to hers, happily resting her sore feet. "Okay, let's ask our guest a little more about life as a Wily-bot. How did you help in Wily's operations?"

"During operations, mostly as a distraction." Top Man poured himself more tea. "Perhaps pretending I had become good and put on a show somewhere. Mostly I would fight humans, as well, fighting really isn't my thing, so fighting robots would be a mistake. I did spend a lot of time in the robot museum, but from day to day I was mostly in charge of budgeting. Wily would rather work on machines than bother too much about financial planning."

"So who were your closest friends?"

The Wily-bot took a sip of tea, smiling a bit. "Ah, despite my weaknesses, I had many. Once people got to know me, that is. I was often in the company of Team 1, as Elec Man wanted me to write an epic about him. I actually started it, would you like to hear a bit of it?"

"Really, we don't have the time - "

Top Man stood up regally, clearing his throat as he went into his story mode.

"The wise but blind man in a dark place

Has put the mask down on his face

With a flip of the switch he came alive

Electricity beckons, electricity thrive!

Greater than creator

Darker than the night

Flashing through black clouds with his fury bright

Much more mighty than known by Dr. Light."

Top Man spun around just once, then stiffly bowed to the camera. Looking up a bit, he addressed GrimMoody. "You're not clapping."

The author leaned against her arm and snorted, rolling her eyes. "Fun fact: 'storytelling' is listed as Top Man's bad point."

"What?" Top Man put his hand on his hips. "I'll have you know that the Wily numbers loved my stories. Eh, most of them. The ones with taste. If you don't like it, then I just won't tell you any more!"

"Thank God."

"Hmph. Fire Man wanted me to write him an epic also," Top Man continued as he huffed and went back to his chair. "But that was more to show that he was in fact not a redneck, as he was for some reason often portrayed. But to answer your original question, I believe my closest friend was Shade Man. He often invited me to tea at the mansion he guarded before Mega Man defeated him. Even the authorities knew of Shade Man's good taste: the didn't destroy his mansion lair. I believe it's the mayor's house now - the thief! Perhaps I could have been friends with Star Man, but they tended to stick mainly to themselves. And my team didn't want me associating with them anyway. Something about damaging 3's reputation."

"Okay, so those are the people you like." GrimMoody stretched and straightened. "So who don't you like?"

"At first it was just Guts Man - bit of a dull one, he is - and Burner Man was not at all appreciative or understanding of my arts. But those were simply robots without any artistic understanding. Now Team 8, I couldn't stand one of them! Never was I more happy than when Tengu Man followed King, because I knew from then on Wily would never rebuilt him! I always hated that arrogant fellow! Clown Man? No better! He constantly mocked me and ruined several manuscripts I was working on. Aqua Man was an unseemly sort, but at least he left me alone. And Search Man? Ugh! He and Grenade Man can go jump into a pit! Frost Man was an utter dunce, and he thought he could write poetry! Spring Man and Astro Man were half decent, I suppose, but they defended the rest of their miserable team, the strange things! Hmph!"

Top Man brushed his shoulder off as he was brushing the all away. "It won't do to think of them. Ah, I would like to try being the host again, if you would let me." He picked up the notepad again. "It will get my mind on better things. Alright, Grimm, which of the Mega Man games had the best music?"

GrimMoody cringed. "Crap, that's hard. I dunno...MM1 had the wonkiest music, and it was awesome and completely different from all the other games'. MM2 was like the soundtrack of an adventure movie, and it had some good songs on there, especially Quick Man's. But if MM3 was the soundtrack to a movie, it'd be one where everyone is having this great techno party, but then they realize at the last minute that they have to go save the world: all the robot masters have party music going on, and it doesn't get that serious until the Wily stages. That one is definitely a contender. MM4 is fun, and Dust Man's pwns. Actually, that whole game was fun as mess. Now, a lot of people think MM5's was lame, but forget them: I loved it! It had this relaxed tone that makes me think of fun times. Napalm Man's makes me think of going on a car trip through California. Uh, I never played the others as a kid, but I have listened to their soundtracks. 6 is cool, 7 is mostly meh besides Shade Man until you get to the Wily stages, and 8 lost the Mega Man feel entirely. While I liked some MM8 songs, they just didn't sound like Mega Man. 9 brought it back, and 10 had some great tunes as well."

"So? Whose do you like best?"

"Eh..." GrimMoody thought about it hard. "Well, for me it's really between 1, 3, and 5. But I'm going to say 1, because it set the standard for the games, and it just sounds so wonky and fun. But y'know, all Mega Man music is great. If you have a different opinion from me, that's fine because you really can't go wrong with any of them."

"So, any regrets about your writing? Other than killing me off in the first story after only two appearances, of course."

"Shut up, Toppy. Well, I regret a couple of things. In Okkusenman, I had Auto being very serious and emotionally absent. That was mainly due to my not being familiar with him, or even liking him. But no, Auto is goofy. The story didn't spend time around him, so I had no time to develop any real characterization. Also, I didn't have a good grip on Mega Man at first, and a few of the things he says in the first story really don't match his true nature. Well, on the Ruby-Spears cartoon, maybe, though no puns."

"I quite liked that cartoon." Top Man chortled deeply, winking at the camera. "It portrayed my dashing charm. Pity the rest of the episode was so miserable. Robots eating and going to college? We don't need food and any knowledge we require can be downloaded. Hm, and as cute as Roll is, I'm afraid that love is quite out of the question. Oh, I interrupted, didn't I?"

"No, it's alright. You're a guest on the show, so you can talk." GrimMoody shrugged. "And yeah, that episode was pretty dumb. I mean, they capture Mega Man and they could destroy him, but then they shove him in a closet and say they'll deal with him later? Stupid. Anyway, I don't know if the readers can tell this, but Okkusenman had the most preparation and planning. I was just thinking about it more. See, what happens with a lot of writers is they'll have a good beginning or end in mind, but there are parts they don't automatically have inspiration for. It's a thing that kills writers, especially noobs. And towards the end of Okkusenman, my inspiration was more scattered and I really had to focus more on the practical parts of the stories. How Many was especially hard, other than the first chapter. Though that got easier towards the end. For Wily Go Taosenai, I had inspiration, but no organization. But I accomplished what I wanted, which was to get reviewers pumped up about how insane Wily's scheme was. I mean, in the X series, all robots were reploids, and not the original kinds, so what happened to the others? I was so happy when I came up with this plan."

"But how do you know there were none?" Top Man asked. "Perhaps there was a survivor or two that never caught the attention of the reploids?"

"Doesn't it say somewhere that nobody had robots until Dr. Cain found X?"

Top Man simply shrugged. "I only know what you know about the X series, because you're the one that let me know it. Oh, don't you think it's about time for another deleted scene?"

"Alright." GrimMoody got up from her seat and stretched. "I better go get the projector going then."

The orange Wily-bot stared at her from behind. "You're the _author_. Can't you just make a remote magically appear from nowhere?"

"Oh...hee hee..."

"Huh," Top Man muttered under his breath. "You'd think an author as lazy as her would think of that right away."

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing, I'm just looking forward to more deleted scenes!"

**======Chapter 5**

**Bass had been keeping close tabs on what was going on in Russia. Despite his ongoing avoidance of ever fighting Mega Man again, he knew that if something happened to Dr. Cossack, his threat to kill Rock was still very valid. Sitting in the lab while suspicious politicians decided whether or not he was falling back into his evil ways was hardly his cup of tea, to say the least. And besides that, the dark robot did not like ****War and Peace****. He slammed the book down, inviting a look from his technician.**

**"What are you looking at?" Bass huffed. "Get back to work and figure out how to get rid of the data kill virus."**

**"Don't talk to a lady like that, Forte." Crystal Bot stuck her nose in the air defiantly. "You know better."**

**"And you know better than to boss me around." Bass hissed, glaring at her. "Now get back to work."**

**The tech-bot frowned, but went back to her computer screen. She didn't like Bass' glare. "Sheesh. I'm just worried about you is all."**

**"Worry about **_**yourself.**_**"**

**Auto was not used to working around arguing people, but he tried to help anyway. "Just ignore him, Sona-chan! You're doing a great job with the virus busting!"**

**Crystal Bot giggled and looked back at the black and gold robot. "See, Auto-kun appreciates me!"**

**Whatever affect Crystal had intended for this statement to have, it only made Bass' expression dissolve even further into a mass of silent threatenings. The girl-bot quickly turned to her monitor again and began typing hastily, nervously hoping that she hadn't made Bass too mad. But there was really little way of getting the dark robot any angrier. He fidgeted in his chair at the side of the lab, seething. If Mega Man didn't report soon what was going on, he wasn't sure what he was going to do.**

**"Eureka!" Auto exclaimed. "I think I've got some data left over from Flame Man's CPU!"**

**"Eeee!" Crystal Bot squealed and went over to look at Auto's computer screen. "Let's see it!"**

**"Give me a second..."**

_**This is maddening! If I have to sit here while everyone else is doing something, I'm going to lose it!**_** Bass fumed. **_**Screw this, I'm out of here.**_

**"Sonata, when Reyes comes back, tell him that Dr. Cossack ordered me to go back to Russia." Bass stood up and made sure that he had one of Crystal Bot's teleporters with him. "Because he still legally owns me and all that crap."**

**"That's a lie, isn't it? He didn't really order you, did he?"**

**"I could answer that question, or I could let you have plausible deniability." **

"Okay," Moody happily twirled her shiny new remote in her hand. "This was basically the result of the huge trouble I had with chapter 5, trying to figure out what angle to show what was going on with Bass getting impatient and leaving. While this scene is okay, it was kind of redundant for the purposes of the story. And it's pretty meh. Heck, I don't have a lot of deleted scenes that are good enough to show here. Why don't I get a couple more over with?"

Grimm clicked the remote again.

**=====Chapter 12**

**"And you," It took Roll a horrified second to realize that Bass was talking to her, and she was no less terrified once she realized it. "You look like a human, so you need to go check on Dr. Cossack."**

**"He's...he's on one of those islands..." Roll said slowly as the dark robot stared her down. "It's not legal for a robot to go there."**

**"No duh, Roll. That's why you've got to go. Everyone thinks you're a person, and the only people who would know would be Cossack and Kalinka." Bass yelled back at his technician. "How many of those teleporter things do you have left that still work?"**

**"Just a couple now." Crystal replied, wishing she had made more when she had the chance. They were complicated machines. "Algorhythm Man now knows how to break them, so if you use them he's either got to not be around or not know they're there."**

**"Algorhythm Man would attack Dr. Cain?" Roll asked, getting more fearful all the time.**

**"The doctor's one of their objectives." Bass said. "They're not going to stop until either he's dead or they are. I want you to check on him just in case. Cain-bots can't track that teleporter."**

**Roughly snatching it from Crystal Bot, Bass brought the little round item over to Roll, who took it uncertainly. **

**"I...I don't know if I can..." Roll uncertainly stared at the item. "Rock wouldn't like it."**

**"If you think you're just going to stand there while the rest of us try and stop all this crap that's going on." the dark robot leaned in closer to her **

**Dive Man hated his job sometimes. Not only was he starting to get seasick again, but he wasn't anywhere near his master. He didn't even have a clue where Dr. Cossack was. As a rule, no robot was allowed to know where any of the specially protected anti-robot shelters were. Dive Man understood that he couldn't risk falling captive to the virus and letting them know where his creator was, so he just dragged himself out of the water and into one of his hidden caverns in the cliffs against the sea. He hadn't been to this one in a while, but he needed an E tank and a sit down, and this would certainly help. He reached for the light switch.**

**The aqua-bot shook his head and rubbed his eyes, hoping the seasickness would pass soon. Once he opened them, he forgot all about it. His cavern was filled with shining gems, gold, and numerous golden artifacts. Much of it was appropriately packaged in wooden treasure chests, each bursting open with shining jewelry and strings of pearl. The light shining from the valuables glittered like nothing the Russian robot had ever seen before. **

**"Guh..."**

**Stunned, Dive Man looked around, not touching any of it. A tattered, time-worn sheet of paper stuck out easily in the shimmer of the goods, and Dive Man picked it up.**

**"Dive Man,**

**I know you hate me, and aggravating you was one of the prime joys of my sad existence. This may come as a shock, but I never hated you much. There was just so much more that deserved my wrath than you. I'm writing this now because of someone I despise more than I could anyone else. Wily. Now that he's dead I'm a free robot again, to a certain extent. When alive the madman forced me to give him everything I found. Every quest for treasure was a bitter one if I could not fill my hoard with it. Now that I can (before someone finds out), I've decided to depart with it. I don't much expect I'll survive what plans Dr. Wily laid out for me, curse upon him, but it can't be helped. I hand this over to you to send along to your lass Kalinka, as I know she favors the shine. I'd rather it go to her than to Wily's plan. Spirited lass, she is. Never told you I met her during the King rebellion, did I? Stopped me from stealing her mother's pearls all by her lonesome! If I was owned by a lass such as she perhaps I'd have turned out to be a better soul. Perhaps I'd be a saltless landlubber like yourself!**

**Aye, I've too much to say with no point to it. This is my will it is, and I'd like a final word before Wily follows through with his evil. I hope you find this in time, but that might not be the case. I've had to wait years for the opportunity to deliver my booty to this cave, and I know you not often get to these parts. Wily's done rebuilt the Armoroids, lad. It's a part of his plan to take down the non-robot shelter islands that he knew Cossack would get to. Cossack knew the master too well, from what I hear. And he's overprotective of that lass of his, at that. You know it better than I. Included with this letter are some scematics to the Armoroids. Get your scientists or whatever to do something with them, if you can. **

"Oh, how terrible!" Top Man exclaimed. "Bass ordering Roll about? Why would he do that? He would be more likely to ignore her because she's weak."

"Don't forget Crystal Man's upgrades." GrimMoody pointed out. "But yeah, that's basically my reaction to the idea, now. I thought it would add some good drama, but one, I focus too much on Bass, and two, it was an opportunity better used for going deeper into Roll's character and showing Crystal Bot a little more. Heck, CB barely did anything the second half of the story, so it was good that she could encourage Roll to go to check on the Cossacks. Yeah, looking at the scene now, I really hate it. As for the second one, I actually like it. I was trying to show some of Dive Man's nature, but stopped because it ended up showing more about Pirate Man - the writer of the letter - than Dive Man. I really should have given him a better part. Also, we already know that Pirate Man was against the apocalypse, so having him leave his riches to Kalinka was kinda unnecessary."

"Pirate Man never liked Wily." The dancing robot spoke up, setting aside his tea. "He was always angry at Wily for taking his treasure, and this got much worse later, as Wily got obsessed with money. He needed it for making his fake anti-virus companies, I suspect."

"Well, why don't we go on to more questions?" GrimMoody said. "So, Top Man, for your part, how did you feel about your part in my trilogy?"

"Why are you even asking me about that?" the miffed robot asked. "You show me slamming into a wall, being mocked by Bass, then in the only other scene I'm in is my death scene. And I would like to point out that both of these scenes happened in the first story, so that I didn't even make it to the apocalypse!"

"Did you want to?"

"Eh...never mind. Still, you could give me more screen time than that!"

"Aw, that's why I invited you to the show." GrimMoody smiled. "You're so funny! Heck, even besides that, even your short time showed how cool you are. You did get Bass to get Spring Man to the repair station for you."

"Ah yes," he cleverly smirked. "That was some fun! And, when Dr. Cain spread that virus of his among the robot masters at the beginning, I did escape it! No one can fault my masterful evasion."

"Oh hey, there was something I was meaning to ask you about." the author started playing with her hair. "What happened with the Wily-bots when Team 5 and Bass left for the good side?"

"If you can trouble yourself to remember, I was in fact _dead_ by that point." Top Man huffed. "I don't know one way or another."

"Oh yeah, right." GrimMoody smacked her forehead. "Okay, that means I'll have to bring back someone else. And that someone will be...Aqua Man!"

Top Man's face immediately transmogrified into that of a grotesque tragedy mask like someone would find in ancient Greek plays.

"Haha, just kidding. Fun fact: I am nearly as repulsed by Aqua Man as everyone else is. Y'know, does someone out there actually like him? I wonder...anyways, I'll bring back...I dunno, how about a Team 10 person? We don't really know them that well, so it would be cool to hear from one."

"I quite like Sheep Man's design, myself." the orange robot suggested. "Why don't we let him come? Seems a right smart fellow."

"Alright, let's get 'im in."

GrimMoody stands up and flicks both of her hands. Instantly Sheep Man appears, and he stands there confused for a moment. Seeing a chair on the stage and the camera, he uncomforably sits down, not settling until Top Man handed him another cup of E tank tea. Sheep Man politely declined any weapon energy pellets to sweeten it. He took a sip and relaxed.

"Um, so what are we doing?"

"Welcome to the Bonus Features show, Sheep Man! Tell us a little about yourself."

"Ah, well I am DWN-077," Sheep Man answered politely. "And I'm the electricity and internet robot for Team 10."

"Before we get to the question I had in mind," GrimMoody began. "Answer a few things for us first. Like, who built you, what it was like being a Wily-bot, how your team got along, and who the leader of it was."

"Oh, okay. Well, I understand why there would be some confusion to who built us. We did have normal jobs for a while, Team 10, that is. I was a sheepherder - you really think that Sheep Dog Man would have been better suited - and then I worked for a circuit board manufacturer. Thing is, we were plants by Wily all along. That was probably the primary reason why I could never stick around to one job. It's so boring around normal people! I could hardly wait until my master allowed me to display the beautiful mouse icon mechaniloids he designed - a stroke of genius! I loved my fortress, but it was a pity I got to spend so little time there before Mega Man defeated me. I could have been the most unstoppable Wily-bot ever!"

"Those disappearing spikes were pretty creative." GrimMoody agreed.

"They were. I so loved being a creation of Wily! Those silly Light drones going on and on about their boring daily tasks! You would never catch me living like that! What a yawn! I might as well count Light-bots rather than sheep if I have insomnia...er, or I would if I actually slept. Our team had very similar opinions. I do feel sorry for Blade Man, though. He really liked his job. It got to the point where I had to tell him that if he kept up the roboenza act he could steal all the swords he wanted. Our leader was Nitro Man, and I feel he did a good job, for his part. We worked so hard to beat Mega Man...erg, if it weren't for Proto Man's and Bass' help, we might have done it!"

Here GrimMoody turned to the camera. "I would just like to point out, that in my universe, Bass was only involved with the fighting of the robot masters. He didn't actually go to Wily's castle. Since the whole thing was a set up to make Mega Man have the virus and to force people to submit to Wily, Bass would have to pretend in the beginning that he actually cared about getting parts for the cure. I do this because I always found the Bass story ending kind of stupid, as it doesn't really explain why Bass was fighting Wily when he could have just tried again to fight Mega Man. If they make a Mega Man 11, they need to make Bass an enemy again. He might hate the robot masters, but he'd rather fight Rock. And they could have been more creative with Proto Man, but since he's fighting alongside Rock it at least makes sense. What would've been could would be that the plot changed according to who you played. Like if you're Mega Man, you fight Bass. Or if you're Proto Man, you steal the cure machine. Or if you're Bass, you fight Rock but end up at the last minute sparing him because of something Wily does."

"What I like is how you barely even mention any Team 10 robots at all!" Sheep Man hissed, a crackle of electricity sizzling across his wool. "We are magnificent robots!"

"Uh, well, you have to remember that you guys didn't appear until I was in the middle of How Many. Plus, I had too many robots to characterize as it was anyway." GrimMoody said. "And you can calm down now, mister. I'm the dang author, and if you threaten me I'll punish you worse than I did the other guys when they 'killed' me."

Sheep Man huffed with irritation, but sat back in his chair and stopped his complaining.

"That's better. Now, why don't you answer what I was asking Top Man: what happened when Bass and Mega Man tore up the last Skull Island?"

"That? Well, it's like Snake Man said: everybody scattered." Sheep Man shrugged. "It took a while to meet up again. Team 10, of course, got out fine and was the first to get back together. We didn't know what to do with Wily arrested, and because the doctor's plans were messed up, we didn't have anywhere to go. About that time, Team 2 stepped up and collected the remaining masters. A lot of us did escape the good guys, and Team 2 had already figured out how to communicate with Wily. From there, it was simply bust Wily out of jail and move on with things."

"But you had no Skull Castle." Top Man pointed out.

"We had Cain's hideout. Not all of us could fit there, but many of us, Teams, 7, 8, and 10, were sent out to be distractions so that the other teams could work on what Wily was doing with Dr. Cain. That's how we lost Commando and Strike Man." Sheep Man bowed his head. "I'll never forget them. They died so bravely...the US got Commando Man, and poor Strike Man was torn apart near London. And let me tell you, Pump Man had a bad time there. You could barely recognise him. We were repaired for the apocalypse, but he was still the first to go...we were in charge of getting Europe, though, and I made sure that those pompous Brits paid for it!"

"I'm getting more and more grateful that I wasn't a part of this apocalypse nonsense." Top Man stuck his nose in the air. "Destroying the culture of a rich civilization is a shame!"

"Yeah, and that means there wouldn't be any more Dr. Who." GrimMoody added.

Top Man's face contorted again, becoming a foul demon mask as he glared at Moody. "That's _not_ rich culture."

"Says you."

"Honestly, it's a wonder someone like you managed to create Crystal Bot." Here the orange robot smiled. "Such a sweet girl-bot. How did you get inspired for her, anyway? I think that was one of the questions I was supposed to ask you."

"Well, it came from this other story idea I had. It was where there was this Nintendo hologram console, where ordinary people would play, and they would get a random character to play the hologram game, which was a combination of a bunch of classic titles. There was a guy being Luigi, another being Geno, and this girl would come in and randomly get Crystal Man, even though she wanted to be Samus Aran." GrimMoody laughed. "Oh man, the look on her face when she saw she got a dude. But when she transformed, it was a girl version. Everyone knew she was girl, but all the characters in the game called her Crystal Man anyway. I love that. I almost wish I had the inspiration to finish that story. From there, I thought about it more and more, then she had a plot."

"What's wrong with the both of you?" Sheep Man snapped. "Crystal Bot was a stupid traitor and she deserved the terrible death that she got! Now stop fouling our conversation with her name!"

"And how did _you_ die then?" Top Man retorted. "Got shot to death by the British army for your trouble, right?"

Sheep Man muttered something then hastily took a drink of tea.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Answer 'im, Sheepo." GrimMoody's seemingly indifferent voice was flavored with the ever-so-slightest hint of a threat.

"I got killed by the data-kill virus, alright!" the fluffy robot shouted, upsetting his tea all over the floor. "I completed my objectives, then the data kill virus erased my brain! Happy?"

"Quite." Top Man smiled with a smug air.

"Wipe that look off your face! I lasted longer than you!"

"Oh?" The spinner-bot casually studied his nails, as if they ever needed maintenence. "I was destroyed by the second most powerful robot in the world. And who were you destroyed by? Your own master, because he wanted you out of the way so that Zero could be the only sentient robot left. I think I know which death you would prefer."

Sheep Man jumped up, smashing the intricate tea cup under his foot. "THAT'S IT! WE'RE FIGHTING NOW!"

A large wheel suddenly appeared above his head, and he immediately knew for its signature appearance that it was the rebound striker. It was already spinning rapidly, and Sheep Man could almost feel it falling down on him and grinding him to bits.

"That's...cheating..." he whimpered.

"I'm the author. I get to cheat." GrimMoody, in an almost bored manner as she pulled out the remote. "Now sit down. I'm going to play my other deleted scenes now, and you're going to chill out, mm'kay?"

"Yes...ma'am..."

"Good boy."

**=====undetermined chapter**

**"Rock is home."**

**Auto's voice jolted everyone out of what they were doing. Everyone looked at each other, uncertain. Bass' bitter glares jumped from person to person. Auto paused only a short time before going back to checking Proto Man's body, and he refused to acknowledge anyone else's presense. The mention of Rock only made Crystal Bot cry harder, and was struggling to keep finding out the possible locations of the robot masters. Bass only made eye contact with Roll, who immediately turned away.**

**"Crap," Bass muttered. "This means **_**I **_**have to tell him, doesn't it?"**

**With a new, special hate for everyone else in the room, Bass stomped off. Teleporting in an out of the lab was impossible now, for security purposes, so Roll could see out the window when Bass approached the one brother she had left. Poor Rock looked mildly happy as he walked up, and seeing Bass, he said something that Roll couldn't hear. She guessed he was probably talking about what he had been doing. **

**Bass' stony behavior puzzled Rock and cut him short. Mere seconds later, horror and despair so filled her brother's innocent face that Roll almost couldn't bear to watch. But her gaze couldn't leave the scene. **

**=====Chapter 13**

**"Forte-kun?" Crystal Bot asked, approaching cautiously as she wasn't sure what kind of mood he was in. "What will we do after this is over?"**

**It was a good question, and Bass gave it a second of thought. "We'll have to build you a new lab...and...I don't know. Probably you'll have to teach people how to build robots or whatever."**

**Crystal Bot pursed her lips, pouting a bit. "I'm not good with AI. I think Auto's going to have to do more of that."**

**Seeing how disappointed she was, Bass was tempted to roll his eyes. But he didn't. The poor girl just wanted to be of some use. **

**"Well, there's going to be a lot of rebuilding to do. You can help out with that, I guess." **

**She brightened. "Okay! But don't worry, I'll still upgrade you! With all this bad stuff going on, I've got lots of ideas! But I guess I'll have to get the robotics parts manufacturing companies back up and running before I can really do a lot of that. Wow, it'll be fun, and there will be jobs for people!"**

**Bass just grinned, proud of her. He was glad that she survived. And after this, he would let her have her fun with building. For a while. Bass wondered if he was the only one still thinking about Zero. But since there was no way to wake him, the best thing to do would be to make sure all of the scattered survivors around the world knew better than to mess with any inactive robots.**

**"Roll-chan, what are you going to do when this is over?"**

**The housekeeper didn't want to think of that. She really couldn't. But she put forth effort only because Crystal Bot walked over to her, and she didn't want to drag her friend into the misery she was in. So she managed a fake smile and made a guess.**

**"I don't know...I'll probably have to help injured people."**

**"Well, once the bad guys are gone, you can help Kalinka again." Crystal Bot suggested, not really fooled. "She'll need you."**

**This was a small comfort, though Roll couldn't get the image of the nursery they had painted for the upcoming baby out of her head. They had worked so hard on it, and Kalinka had been so happy...and then it was all torn to bits by the robot war. Gloomily Roll sank further down into her chair. She didn't want to look at anyone, or have anyone try to comfort her. She wanted to close her eyes, and open them to find that everything was alright again**

**Left with no other option, Roll squeezed her eyes tightly. Wanting so very badly for things to be better, she held them shut tight, fearful if she wouldn't get her wish. But as she opened them again, all she saw were her moody companions. She looked up at her brother, who was now gazing down at her tenderly, like a father. Roll sniffed.**

"Where did GrimMoody go?" Top Man asked.

"Who cares? I'm just glad the rebound striker is gone." Sheep Man looked upwards nervously.

"How do you know that she just didn't make it invisible?"

"Guh!"

The animal-bot cautiously got up from his seat, lifting his arms to feel upwards just in case he accidentally bumped into it. He tried to go over to another chair on the other side of the stage, when Top Man interrupted.

"How do you know it's not following you right this very moment, and you just can't see it?"

Giving a frightened shriek, Sheep Man started running around the stage in a panicked manner, not even caring that Top Man was laughing his butt off at him. About this point, GrimMoody returned from backstage, and she raised an eyebrow.

"_Mwo-ehyo?_"

"GET IT AWAY FROM ME! PLEASE MAKE IT GO AWAY...!"

"Sheesh, I get up for one second for coffee, and this nonsense happens." GrimMoody shook her head. "There's nothing chasing you, Sheepo."

"Really?"

"Really."

Sheep Man glared over at Top Man, who feigned ignorance as he pulled out a handkerchief and casually blotted away the spot of E tank tea on his lips. GrimMoody just rolled her eyes and went back to her chair. Sheep Man did the same, thinking about all the ways he was going to make Top Man blow up.

"Wow, those deleted scenes didn't take long, huh." she noticed. "Well, okay, the first is the first draft of Bass telling Mega Man that Proto Man is dead. I actually liked it, but for the purposes of the plot it was just easier to make Mega find out differently, and it ended up being more dramatic. For the second, that was some inane musings. My first drafts of uncertain chapters tend to be inane, and while it would have been cute to do a conversation like this, it just didn't fit in the scene. Especially when I was right about to knock off Bass and my OC."

"You really don't have any more?" Top Man was disappointed.

"'Fraid not. I didn't have many with this story. It's a lot more direct than the others. I focused more on getting it right. Let's see what else I got in here...I have these two quotes in my notes for this story, but I have no clue where I meant to use them..."

The screen in the back turned white, and two quotes appeared. "And when you see those senators...tell them I said _you're welcome_." as well as "Team 5 looks to you as an example. Don't lead them astray."

"Ah yes," Grimm remembered. "The first is Bass talking to Tim Reyes about being suspected as being a part of Wily's scheme. Y'know, I really should have accentuated that part of the story more. It would be funny if Bass was totally suspect, and Rock was told to kill him. Of course, Bass is trying not to fight Rock, so he'd have to control himself and force himself to just let Mega Man shoot him, but then Rock would know that Bass is still trying to be good. Then Bass would end up being nuked by the army because no one believes Rock, and Crystal Bot would try to teleport them out, but that's when Algorhythm Man steps in and gets them all killed. Bah! Why did I think of that only now? Whatever. I like this better. It's more important the way it happened."

"That second quote sounds like Proto Man." Top Man pointed out.

"Ah, yep it is. That's him lecturing Bass. I never really needed that quote, but I kinda like it." Moody's lips twitched. "Bah."'

"That's all? That sucks." Sheep Man scorned her. "You suck."

"Shut up. As it turns out, I have some behind the scenes footage of Dr. Wily's apocalypse planning. Auto, hit it!"

"Moody...the remote..." Top Man facepalmed.

"Oh! Yeah...hehe..."

**Wily looked horrible. That was the short of it. Cut Man had been around for a long time, and while he had never seen a young Wily (though his master had claimed to be quite the looker in his day), he had seen the downward spiraling of his master's health. There were more wrinkles, and the pinkness of his skin had faded ever so slightly into a matted grey. Cut Man knew what the problem was, and it wasn't merely old age. It was hardly surprising that the one organ that would go wonky on Dr. Wily would be his heart.**

**"How are we doing on those distraction viruses, Dr. Cain?" Wily pronounced the "doctor" with great, mocking emphasis. "I hope we won't be needing any more...motivation..."**

**The disheveled wreck that was once a human sat up from his desk, where he had been bent over, practically burning his eyes out at the computer monitor as he intensely worked. He looked around his large office, noting that it looked much smaller with so many Wily-bots inside. The sight of his own robots only brought a groan to his lips and heaviness to his heart: they weren't his robots anymore, and from the glaring smile on Epic Man's face that beamed from Wily's side, he could tell that they were enthused about it.**

**"It's coming along." Dr. Cain rubbed his eyes. "The data kill virus is ready, as well as several others. I've finished programming the coding for ArmorCore 'Anti-Virus', and that leaves Hitentshi Firewall. I...I need sleep, Wily."**

**"No, you need to work."**

**The dull, bloodshot eyes of Cain could barely tear up. "If I die your stupid scheme fails."**

**Wily gruffly folded his arms. "It's not a stupid scheme, it's brilliant! If you had any sense then you wouldn't be in this position, would you? Heh. Alright, you whiner. Cut Man, if you please."**

**"No, please, I don't need an injection, I'm exhausted enough - gggarrrakk!"**

**His voice sounded uncannily like the sound of a glitching robot as a malicious Wily pressed his favorite button on his new remote. Electrifying Dr. Cain was so much fun. Giving up after only one pulse, Nikola laid his aching head on his desk as Cut Man injected him with a sleep serum. He was out of consciousness in seconds.**

**"My poor, poor creator." Epic Man hissed in an entirely non-pitying way, his breath sizzling on his teeth. "He just had to put that chip in his brain."**

**"It makes him no better than a robot!" Wily quipped, not caring how his remark against robots irked the leader of the Cain-bots. "But as I was saying, there's going be a need for you to be flexible in my plans. I won't be here to watch you, so you're going to have to do your best."**

**"My best is more than enough, now!" Epic Man cheerfully ran a diagnostic again just so he could look at all the beautiful AI and fire power that Wily had given him. **

**"Good." Wily's tone grew more serious. "Now pay attention, there's something I want you to remember something."**

**Epic Man listened intently, following behind Wily as the scientist tried his hardest to continue. There was obviously something weighing heavily on his mind, and Epic Man was actually eager to find out what it was. He enjoyed every part of bringing about the end of the world, and being so close to the madman was almost like a dream come true for the Cain-bot.**

**Wily's voice was a bit sudden. "If by some miracle they manage to kill Zero, your orders are to leave Bass alive. Kill everyone else, but he and Crystal Bot can go free."**

**"What?" the Cain-bot's voice got a little shrill from the laughter that forced its way out simultaneously. "Fish? Whatever for? He won't have **_**your**_** ends in mind, that's for certain."**

**"That doesn't matter!" Wily's scolding made Epic Man shrink back. "He's my robot, and the second best thing I ever made. And it doesn't matter what he believes. As long as he is the only robot remaining, I am still father of the robots! You'll just have to take down X yourself."**

**Epic Man wasn't sure he liked this idea. "Well, if they somehow kill Zero after we've already killed Bass, can I live?" he half joked. **

**The grin on the evil doctor's face sinister and ironic. "Heh. You know your part, Epic Man. You're just a servant, and you are NOT my robot. Do you understand?"**

**The failsafe programs locked into Epic Man's head activated, and he soured, his spirit falling. Wily had upgraded him and he was going to finally do some damage to humanity, but no, he was still not Wily's. As much as he had wished it ever since his villainous creation, he was not the possession of the world's most evil scientist.**

**"I understand."**

**Algorhythm Man went over to his creator, blinking curiously. He had never known Dr. Cain to not be in charge, and it was weird to see him like this. **

**"Dr. Wily, was it really necessary to inject him?"**

**"Yes it was. You remember the time when he pretended to be asleep and tried to run away. For his own sake it would be better if I didn't have to send Nitro Man after him. Next time he might break more than a leg, so there shouldn't be any next time."**

**"Oh."**

**Algorhythm Man didn't complain. He couldn't. So he just let Wily walk on with his brother as the former lectured the latter on the variables of his plan. Algorhythm Man wished that Epic was looking at him so that he could see him scowling. But if Wily noticed, that wouldn't go over well. Trying not to show his irritation with the both of them, the neon robot went to go find a blanket for his creator. It was the only thing he could do.**

**"And Epic Man, about Dr. Cain." Wily continued. "Make sure you keep him in line. Don't let him even think of trying to destroy what I've planned."**

**Algorhythm Man shuddered.**

"Okay, so this is a scene that I couldn't really fit into the plot," GrimMoody explained. "But I consider it canon to my universe. No matter who was running things, it was always Wily's show. Also, here's a deleted scene that was actually from How Many, I'm just putting it here because this is where it fits better. I've been planning this story out a long time."

**It was quiet. The building was peacefully quiet that night, other than the sounds of traffic passing by. And it was getting later, so those were few. Yet one thing stood out, a single window on the building's lowest floor.**

**Inside, a midnight blue robot stood over a frenzied human, a balding man who had obviously been avoiding the sun for the past few years. The man fearfully looked up at the machine, who only smiled frightfully back. The man scribbled at his paperwork with a new fervor, afraid for his life. **

**"There, it's done!" The man finally said. "The report doesn't mention the loss of Dr. Wily's brain, and I've deauthorized any further investigation into the autopsy results. I've done what you wanted! Now please let me go! I swear on my life I'll never tell anyone about this!"**

**This pleading entertained Epic Man. "That was the deal, wasn't it?" he slowly teased the agonised medical man. "File the papers, then get out of here."**

**Thanking the Cain-bot repeatedly, the man quickly stuck the papers in their proper place in the file cabinet and ran off, his shaking hands reaching into his pockets for his keys. The sooner he was away from that robotic monstrocity, the safer he would feel. **

**"Oh, Mr. Gander?" Epic Man almost sang. "Where are you?"**

**"I'm sorry! I'm almost out the door, please just let me go, please! I did everything you told me to do!"**

**Epic Man quickly caught up to Dr. Gander, grabbing him by the back of his jacket. "Silly human. If you hadn't said anything, then I might have thought you were gone already."**

**Dragging the unfortunate man outside, Epic Man jumped in to the air, flying over to a nearby street, one that was still fairly busy at 10:30 at night. "Okay, Gander, do you swear on your parents' graves, the Bible, money, or whatever it is you treasure that you will never again speak of what happened?"**

**"YES! For the love of God, yes!"**

**"Okay."**

**With that, Epic Man threw him in front of an oncoming eighteen wheeler, turning away and refusing to watch the demise of the man he had manipulated. "I believe you, Mr. Gander...now."**

**Algorhythm Man, who had been waiting patiently outside the building the entire time, spoke up to his brother. "So that's it then?"**

**"Oh yes, it certainly is. You know, I'm very grateful to Master Wily for removing those troublesome three laws from our minds. I have no clue what Cain was thinking when he gave us those. If he was to be a true villain, you'd think that would be the first thing he would eliminate.**

**Algorhythm Man couldn't agree more. "Certainly, Epic. So where to now?"**

**"Now we wait. There are still many preparations to be done. Let us give the little heros some time, so that when we finally do strike, they'll never see it coming!"**

"Ugh. Just, ugh." GrimMoody grimaced, shrinking back into her chair. "I felt really bad writing this. For one thing, I don't like killing that guy. So basically the point of this was just to establish that Wily's brain had been preserved. However, I had no real plans for Wily showing up in the robot apocalypse, I just wanted to allow for theories that suggest Dr. Weil, or Vile or whoever in the X series was Wily, without contradicting any of them. Mystery is good. However, this scene here really raises too many questions. I'd basically have to include some parts with Wily, and to be honest, I didn't want to. It's better to leave Wily's fate to the imagination, so if you have any theories about it, heck, why not let me know what they are? You should enjoy your theories, because I don't want to bother them. Hence, this scene got the axe."

"Good gracious! That's terrible!" Top Man scooted his chair further away from the author.

"Ha, I guess I can't tell you my exploits during the apocalypse, then." Sheep Man snickered. "You'd probably faint if you heard them."

The Team 3 machine scooted his chair back the other direction. "Moody, I believe we made a mistake on which robot to include. Mind disposing of him?"

"Nah, you do it."

"WHAT?"

"I said you do it." GrimMoody repeated. She lifted her hand in the air and spun it around. Instantly all the tea, tea cups, chairs (besides the one she was sitting on), and podium all disappeared, and the author's chair scooted over to the side of the stage. "There you go. Now fight."

Top Man cracked his fingers. "Very well then. I shall have to do my best."

"As if you could beat me!" Sheep Man snarled.

Immediately the Team 10 robot rose and broke off into his four clouds, shooting down his lightning from each of them. Top Man did a fair job dodging them, though it didn't look good for him. Sheep Man laughed as he returned to his normal form to recharge the attack. Top Man threw out his tops, and as Sheep Man tried to dodge them, Top Man spun towards him, smacking right into his side. Instantly the younger robot poofed outwards, his arms and legs clunking to the ground as his cloud body dissolved into the air.

"You heard it here first, folks! Or er, saw." GrimMoody announced. "Sheep Man is weak to top spin!"

"Well...what do you know?" Top Man gleefully clapped. "How handy!"

"What say we wrap this up, eh? How about a word for our reviewers?"

Top Man nodded. "I'll do better than that. I saw what hideous torture you subjected Queen Sunstar to in the last Bonus Features. I shall now remedy that terrible, terrible rhyme that you forced Bass to write her. Ahem -

"Starlight brilliant, so mighty, so fair

Dancing down and bringing life to the air

Your very presense warms the cold hearts of men

Oh come down, bright wonder! Come down again!

Queen Sunstar, my one love."

GrimMoody stared at him, her lips pulling back in utter disgust. With a might TWACK she dropped her head into a double facepalm, as a crowd of magical sweatdrops appeared around her hair.

"No, Toppy. Nooo...NOOOOOOOO..."

"You don't have to be so rude." Top Man huffed. "I think it's quite lovely."

"I think you're quite full of yourself. And I'm going to be sick. Please try not to woo my reviewers."

Top Man very disobediently spun for the camera, winking. "Ah, I know miss Sunstar would love to write a story about me. As I would love to be in them."

"I'm gonna die of cornyness sickness. And on that 'happy' note, let's talk about some reviewers. First of all, Sunstar, UGH, I am so sorry. Really, I am -"

"I'm not!"

"Shut up, Toppy! Anyway, thanks for all your reviews, Sunstar. I really appreciate it. And no, I'm trying to keep this story as canon as possible to the main series, and they said that Zero did not destroy the Classic robots, so take that up with them. And thanks to the floating robot heads, Clzh and Clzh-X. You guys are always entertaining. Guys, I have to say that I hate the term 'Cataclysm'. It sounds too Bob and George. Wow, your review sounds like you're recommending me on some internet review site. Aw, I feel all mushy. I have to say, seeing that huge review made me feel all fluffy on the inside. You guys are great. I don't really care for your new name, but eh, that's me.

"And Mungo, heck you've been with me since near the beginning, haven't you? I so appreciate it. But alas, I shall not be getting into the humans' fate after doomsday. I'm just not inspired for it, and you've got to work with your inspiration. Teribane, Lalalei, Josunurashima...y'all are cool. And Jade, I was so happy when I saw your review on Okkusenman. I'm really glad that you can enjoy my story without being familiar with classic. Fanficguy, Anmynous, ProtoChan, Aile-chan, Tylterra, FicReader101...thank you. You make all of this worthwhile. Heck, and Distant-Moon, I know I haven't seen you since Okkusenman, and I think you're still mad at me for not making this a Bass/Crystal Bot story, but that's not how I roll. Thanks for your reviews too. Oh hey, Toppy, anything you want to say?"

"I think that it's ironic that the only story where the reviewers mention Roll is the one where she's not alive to see the review. Pity." Top Man frowned. "But ah, for my part, I would like to thank Tylterra for her compliment in the Okkusenman reviews. I hope she sees this.

Tylterra, so lovely, so wise

Tylterra with ever perceptive eyes - "

"No poetry."

"But - "

"NO POETRY!" GrimMoody shuddered at the prospect. "I'm about to throw up. Guh...ungh! You're way too gross about it. But what you're good at is dancing. The stage is still clear, so why don't you go ahead and show us what you wanted us to see earlier?"

"So it's the end of the show then?"

"Yep."

"And...what happens to me afterwards?"

"Well, it's the robot apocalypse, so you're dead."

"No! That won't do!" Top Man quickly posed. "Here I shall perform my eloquent dance for you, and if you do not see that it is the most lovely thing you have ever seen, then I shall accept my fate. But if you indeed accept my interpretive dance plea for my life, please send me to another game! I'll go to Mario Kart, or Donkey Kong Country, wherever you like!"

With that, Top Man started his most magnificent dance yet. And two seconds later, he blew up.

"Bah, they don't call me GrimMoody for nothing." the author addressed the camera. "You know, early on I had in mind this really weird scene where Bass and Top Man got into a competition to see who was more charming, and Crystal Bot was the judge. Bass won by default because he wasn't spouting creepy poetry. And that about does it for Bonus Features! Thank you everyone for reading! Love you guys, bye!"

As the lights in the theater dimmed, GrimMoody waved and waved harder until nothing could be seen. Then there was silence. And then a loud _thunk_, skid, and random non-expletive from the author.

"Fudge monkeys!" she squealed. "Stupid chair!"


	17. And Then

And suddenly he was awake. He could see nothing and was not aware of his surroundings. All he could feel was a massive surge of energy - it felt that his entire body was overheating, overclocked with power coursing through him irresistably. And where was that screaming coming from? It felt so loud that it would burst his ears! But thankfully, in a moment it was all over, and his systems settled into something not unlike normalcy. He felt faint, and leaned against something which he guessed to be a wall of some sort. Only then did Bass realize that he had been the one screaming.

He stretched out each appendage to make sure his limbs worked, waiting for his vision to clear. What he could see confused him. It was like a normal world, he supposed, but everything was sort of bent and twisted out of proportion so that he couldn't exactly understand the scene before him. Only a minute later did he realize that he was encased behind - not glass, but some sort of high impact-resistant transparent plastic. There was a metal panel near his foot, and it was positioned so that people on the outside of the plastic could read it. The ramifications were obvious.

"How did I end up in the robot museum?"

Well, he wasn't going to stay there. In the display case there wasn't enough room for him to get in a good punch, but slamming on the panel with his fist two or three times did the trick. Musing over his situation as he kicked out more of the case and stepped out onto the floor, Bass decided that his first order of business should be to explore the museum and see if anyone else was there. And certainly it would be a good source of information, especially if he had been on display for a long time. He couldn't help look down at his own placard, to see his mighty feats lauded by a grateful poplace. Or so he expected.

It read -

"SWN - 001

This first generation model is a fighter robot, believed to be a defender during the time of the robot apocalypse. Unfortunately, due to a massive EMP, his mind was completely wiped out, and we have no direct data on who this robot could have been.

SWN - 001 possesses an internal buster in each arm, with optional support from two energy crystals.

Found on the outskirts of Giga City."

Bass' fangs unsheaved themselves in a nasty grimace. No one remembered him? This was the worst thing imaginable. Not only to be in robot hell, but to be forgotten...Bass punched in the placard for good measure, then ripped it out and threw it into a wall, where it embedded itself and caused satisfactory damage to the wall. That done, Bass went to explore the rest of the room.

This particular area seemed to be dedicated to what it called "the first generation robot era - age of optimism". There was little in the round room, and Bass himself had apparently been the key feature of the place. There were the scattered remains of some mechaniloids and an almost fully intact mettaur, but other than that there were more pictures and words than actual items. And seeing how no one was there, Bass guessed that it was nighttime outside.

None of it was that interesting to the dark robot, but a display caught his eye as he turned to go. There it was. The stupid thing. It was in a display case full of miscellaneous items, and the instant he saw it, it horrified him. He recognised it instantly. It was Mega Man's helmet, sporting a sickening gash just left of the center. It was cut completely through, and Bass' memories instantly told him that the cut had been made with a beam sword. Anything that could get through Mega Man's helmet that cleanly had to have been fatal for the bomber. But even worse than that was the placard. It was a small thing, with only a few words on it.

"An example of an oldstyle helmet."

For a moment, Bass stood there, an inexplicable look on his face. All at once he was angry. Rage welled up inside him, as well as confusion. This wasn't supposed to happen. Mega Man was unstoppable, Bass reminded himself. There was no one in the world that could possibly bring him down. He examined the cut more closely, slowly scowling in disgust. It was done by a beam sword. He only knew one robot with a beam sword.

The acoustics of the museum were just perfect for carrying Bass' loud swearing.

_"Zero...he did this..." _Bass slammed his fist into the display window. _"And if he got Rock, then who got rid of Zero?"_

The dark robot winced. It couldn't have been him, could it? But the last thing he remembered before waking up in the museum was Crystal Bot reminding him to back up his spare memory just before going to fight Algorythm Man. So whatever he had done after backing up his memory files, it was lost. Something must have happened to his original mind to destroy it. Bass hoped that involved killing Zero.

But whatever happened, he had failed. Again.

Bass immediately shook that thought out of his head. It couldn't be helped now. For the moment he would have to figure out what did happen, and who else might have survived. If anyone. Bass gave a smug, ironic grin to the broken helmet on display behind the now cracked plastic pane. He had beaten Rock after all, in a contest of survival if nothing else. He was the toughest robot after all. The grin, however, was empty. This wasn't a glorious victory; it was a cheat. That and he never got to gloat about it.

_"This place is creepy..." _Bass decided as he frowned at his surroundings. _"And there's better places to go for information. I better figure out what happened to X. That moron better be alive after I worked so hard protecting him and got stuck in this robot museum."_

That question was answered very quickly. In fact, all he had to do is walk into the next room. Shuddering, he passed the "dead century" segment (a thankfully small one), and immediately encountered a display of X, including an original video of X being discovered. Bass immediately let out a breath. This was better news than he expected. It would have been horrible if Dr. Light's project had been destroyed, especially since there was no other guardian of humanity left.

Bass had reached his absolute limit of the place and he doubted that anyone else was there, so instead of walking out, he decided to do a quick teleport. He took a moment to check his teleportation circuits, and they seemed fine. But he happened to glance back to the room he had come from, and it occurred to him that there was one last thing left to do. It was only proper.

\\\\

Author's notes:

- And you thought it was over. Seriously, who would let their story end like that with everybody dead? Pretentious people. And I'm not pretentious. Or at least not that pretentious. Well, I'll be going to China again for two weeks, and so no updates for a bit. Just thought I'd leave you with a bit of a taste so I can torture you with another wait once again before I run off. So, when I come back, look forward to my next story, Afterlife, that deals with the struggles of Bass as he tries to live in the X series.

- Oh, and another thing. Clzh and Clzh-X were trying to come up with a new name, and I made one for them. I was bored, so I made them a Maverick robot equivalent. They are -

====Ping Duplicitous

**"There is an intruder! Entertain us, intruder, or die!"**

Ping Duplicitous is a Maverick who follows Sigma simply because he is bored (besides having the virus). Or perhaps he is two Mavericks at once: Ping is comprised of two separate robot heads, but they seem to be in a constantly united mental state, and the loss of one renders the other insane. Or more insane than it already is. Ping's weapon consists of electrical beams, though they usually prefer to crash into their enemies themselves. When X defeats them, he gains the Ping Double Gun, which shoots a moderately powered shot, then a more powerful blast behind it. This is useful when a weaker enemy is in front of a stronger one, or you need to clear out a lot of enemies.

I got this name from "Ping" as it is a reference to computers, and "Duplicitous" means two-faced or hypocritical. But since this guy is a Maverick, I guess he doesn't have to be honest.

- This secret chapter is dedicated to Teribane because she kept trying to think of ways that Bass could be alive, and was constantly telling me her theories in pms. By the way, Teri, all of them are wrong. ;)


End file.
